How Far Can You Go?
by Wrighter92
Summary: Robin is pushed to his limit by Gotham's worst and a demanding fight soon after. How far can the Boy Wonder go before he gives in?
1. Chapter 1

**Yes, I finally have another story! I know it's been a LONG time and I felt really bad about that but I honestly couldn't think of _anything_ to write. I hope this makes up for the long wait! :)**

**This is being beta-ed by Magpie of Silver. Go check out her writing, it's really good!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice**

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><p>Dick Grayson sighed as he tied a plain dark red tie around his neck. He checked his suit one last time before heading downstairs to meet Bruce for the charity event they were going to. The party was one of the biggest of the year and all of Gotham's biggest faces would be there, meaning billionaire Bruce Wayne and his ward, the orphaned circus boy Dick Grayson, couldn't miss it for anything.<p>

In his five years as the ward of Bruce Dick had grown used to the constant parties and charity events they went to. He became adept at creating a convincing smile through his boredom and acting like the perfect thirteen year old; polite, soft spoken, and infinitely grateful to Bruce for taking him in when his parents fell to their deaths during a trapeze performance when he was eight.

Not that Dick wasn't infinitely grateful, but he definitely wasn't soft spoken even at the best of times. Growing up in a circus had given him a love for performing, acting out, and generally being the complete opposite of the docile and respectful teenager he was now expected to be.

Dick let out another sigh when he made it to the front doors of the huge Wayne mansion. Bruce was already waiting for him, dressed in a brand new black suit with a royal blue tie and looking just as bored with the situation as Dick felt.

"How long is this one supposed to be?" he asked as the two headed down the walkway to the car waiting for them.

"Three hours," Bruce answered.

"Is Barbara coming?" Dick asked, hoping his friend would be there. They always managed to make the dull parties exciting for everyone there, even if it meant he was grounded later.

"No, she and Commissioner Gordon are visiting relative out of town. They won't be back until next week."

The thirteen-year-old audibly groaned. Now what was he supposed to do for fun? He could hardly pull off any of their pranks by himself. Most of them required precise timing on both of their parts.

"At least try to look like you're having fun," Bruce warned as the car started driving away and toward the party. Alfred was driving, of course. Bruce's butler refused to let anyone else drive the two anywhere and they didn't argue. Having him there meant they could talk freely about their superhero lives, not that they ever did while out of costume. It was just an added safety measure.

"I always do," Dick said, "But I don't see why everyone has these things. I can't imagine that _anyone_ likes them."

"They're for charity and besides, I can name a few who genuinely enjoy these parties," Bruce said.

"Like your airhead girlfriends," Dick mumbled. Bruce chose not to answer and they spent the rest of the ride in silence.

When Alfred finally slowed the car to a stop Dick began preparing himself for the cameras and press. They swarmed like flies to these parties and followed him and Bruce around almost the entire time.

As soon as he stepped out of the car, the expected flashes and shouts erupted around him. He plastered on his best winning smile and tried not to squint at the bright lights. The two answered no questions and hardly stopped at all to allow the press to get a good picture and soon enough they were inside.

At the first few parties Dick had been awed by the huge buildings and expensive decorations within, but after so many he merely respects the architecture and artefacts at the events.

Bruce didn't miss a step once he reached the relative safely of the giant hall. The crowd of people within hushed slightly when they saw the billionaire playboy but soon started up their conversations again. Bruce led Dick toward a large group of people around the refreshments table and started up a conversation with the owner of one of Gotham's art museums.

Dick soon grew bored with the talk of paintings and sculptures and went to grab one of the ready-made cups of some drink he didn't care to recognize. The drinks looked brand new and no one seemed to have taken one yet, but Dick didn't think anything of it. They had probably just run out earlier. As he took his place back at Bruce's side, Dick tasted the drink. It was a little to sweet for him, but he would take anything to avoid talking to the rich snobs surrounding him.

Bruce told a cheesy joke that held absolutely no humour but caused those listening to erupt in laughter. Dick joined in as he was expected to but even amid the constant talk he recognized something different with his laugh. It wasn't his usual soft, polite laugh he used at these events but a loud, sickening, maniacal chuckle.

As soon as he realized this, Dick tried to stop laughing, to close his mouth and be quiet, but he couldn't. He felt his face stretch painfully into a maniac grin and continued laughing. He felt his throat grow raw with the forced sound and continued laughing. He felt his eyes fill with tears and still laughed. Dick found it impossible to breathe fully. He fought for every small gasp of air but then laughed it all away.

The glass fell and shattered on the floor. He laughed. Bruce grabbed his shoulders and shook him, trying to talk to him. He laughed. Dick grabbed his stomach and curled in on himself, trying to breathe but only laughing. Bruce yelled something at the silent watchers as tears streamed down Dick's face. He felt himself being picked up and carried swiftly away somewhere. He heard whispered words of comfort from Bruce but couldn't understand them through the horrible sound he was making. Dick felt his breaths grow shorter and shorter and began to wonder how many he had left before he suffocated.

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><p><strong>AN: This was slightly shorter than I usually do, but a lot happened and it's the first chapter. The next one will be a bit longer. Oh, and sorry about that cliff hanger. I regret nothing.**

**Review and tell me what you think so far! Compliments and constructive criticism is always welcomed and appreciated! Thanks for reading :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Here's the second chapter, enjoy!**

**Still don't own Young Justice.**

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><p>Dick felt the maniacal laughter being torn from his unwilling throat. His lungs burned with the effort of simply inhaling enough oxygen to survive. He could dimly hear his own laughter, though he barely recognized it as coming from his own throat. The demented sound he heard was eerily similar to the laugh that haunted the nightmares of nearly every kid in Gotham. Including his.<p>

After what felt like hours Dick felt something sharp being jabbed into his arm. After another few seconds he felt the laughing begin to fade away. Greedily he sucked in air, savouring the feeling of his lungs expanding with fresh oxygen once more.

Once Dick had regained most of his breath he looked around to find himself in what he recognized as a bathroom at the house the party was being held at. He was lying on the large rug with Bruce kneeling down next to him, an empty syringe at his side.

"Can you breathe alright? How do you feel?" Bruce asked anxiously.

Dick replied as best he could, still breathing heavily, "I-I'm...fine...just...couldn't breathe..." He panted with the effort of those few words and closed his eyes for a second. When he opened them again, Dick found Bruce watching him carefully, a hint of fading fear still in his eyes. "I'm fine," Dick said again in a stronger voice, "Never was a big fan of these party drinks."

Bruce nodded once and helped him to sit up and lean against the wall as he started assessing the situation. "If there is Joker venom in the drinks then the Joker has to be here too, or at least his henchmen setting up for something he has planned."

"Time for Batman and Robin?" Dick asked, already mentally preparing himself to fight while still out of breath. He had done it before on more than one occasion after being hit with the same venom. He wasn't sure if the liquid form would affect him differently but there wasn't time to find out safely.

"If Robin is well enough, then yes," Bruce agreed. He pulled a compressed utility belt from one of his suit's pockets and after expanding it pulled out a compressed Batman costume. Dick did the same with his hidden utility belt and they quickly changed to Batman and Robin, the infamous Dynamic Duo of Gotham City.

The partners quickly exited the bathroom and made their way to ceiling to sit in the rafters and watch as the party continued. Robin was already panting heavily by the time he settled into a crouch next to Batman, but he tried to regain his breath as quickly as he could. When he did, Robin noticed that the poisoned drinks had been taken away in the short span of time they had been gone.

The guests had all continued talking, though he couldn't hear what they were saying. He imagined that the talk of his laughing fit hadn't quite died down yet. Every citizen of Gotham knows the effects of Joker venom so they were probably still discussing it even if they weren't smart enough to leave right away.

Robin suddenly felt a small giggle escape him, which he quickly tried to stifle with a hand over his mouth. Batman looked back at him with his masked eyes narrowed in concern. Robin silently reassured his mentor that he would be fine, even though he wasn't sure himself. If the Joker had changed the formula he could easily collapse laughing in the middle of a fight. Batman accepted the assurance, although Robin knew he would be watching him closely until they could finally go back to the mansion.

Robin returned his gaze to the crowd below, relishing the feeling of being so high above everyone else even though he was still worried about the Joker Venom. The joy of being in the air never grew old. It always renewed itself and was always just as fresh as when he was a kid.

He noticed that despite there being plenty of drinks being offered to the guests they all turned them down. Bruce must have warned them not to drink anything after he started laughing. Anything could be laced with the venom. If only they had had the sense to leave before anything really bad happened.

"There," the whisper, hardly more than a soft breath, brought Robin out of his thoughts and back to the party. He followed Batman's gaze to one of the waiters holding refreshments. After a few seconds Robin made out the faint bulge under his coat that meant he was carrying a gun.

Quickly scanning the rest of the waiters, Robin found more than half of them with the same tell-tale bulge. About twenty in total. The Boy Wonder repositioned himself on his perch, getting ready to spring into action at a moment's notice. Batman did the same, his cape shifting ever so slightly.

The duo waited silently, still as statues, for the armed men to make the first move. For several long minutes they waited and watched as five more gunmen made their way in to join the others. Just when Robin's muscles were starting to seize up a gunshot shattered the quiet talk of the party, causing the guests to erupt into screams and shouts.

The disguised waiters immediately pulled out their guns and moved to block the exits. Once in position each one pulled out a clown mask and placed it over their faces. They had carefully positioned themselves close enough to get to the doors before the guests and effectively cut off any escape route the panicked guests might have had.

Once they saw all of the exits had been blocked the rich citizens gathered in the centre of the room in a tight circle, many of the women sobbing while others looked more composed. All of Gotham's richest had at least some experience with its villains. Even so, Robin could clearly see the majority of them shaking where they stood.

"Wait..." Batman breathed. Robin shifted in his perch, anxious to go down and fight, but stayed in place on Batman's order.

They didn't have to wait for long. After only a few seconds the Joker's sickening laugh, which Robin had so recently imitated, cut above the panicked sounds of the civilians and silenced them immediately.

The laugh came from Robin's right, near the hallway to the bathroom they had changed in. He glanced at Batman before straining to see exactly where the psychopath was, but the Dark Knight was focused solely on watching the clown. Robin soon located him, standing in a doorway with his knife out and opened as he twirled it around in hand and continued laughing.

Slowly and confidently the Joker made his way to the centre of the room until he was only feet away from the terrified guests. They shrank back from him as if he was toxic. This only caused him to laugh again for another minute before finally talking.

"Well hello everybody! I'm _so_ glad you could come to my party!" he grinned widely at them for a moment before continuing, "I bet you're all wondering why I've gathered you here tonight. All of Gotham's finest in one room. So vulnerable. Completely at my mercy. Hm? No guesses?" he burst out laughing again, tossing his knife up and catching it neatly.

Robin glanced at Batman again, already fearing the worst. His mentor's head moved ever so slightly in a shake, warning his protégé not to move.

Robin turned back to the scene below and started going over every possibility in his head. Most likely the Joker planned to kill everyone in the room to see the chaos it would cause. By itself that was simple enough to stop, but the real question was how he planned to do it.

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><p><strong>Not as cliff hanger-ish as the first chapter I hope. I can't type right now...ugh. I just watched Perfromance. All my Robin feels are exploding. Review please, I have to go watch it over and over for the next few hours. <strong>


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks so much for the enthusiastic reviews! I'm a little bit more calm since I saw Performance, but it's defiantly my favorite episode! Anyway, enjoy!**

**Own Young Justice? I do not.**

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><p>"Well, let me tell you what I'm going to do!" the Joker's voice continued to spread throughout the otherwise silent room. He began to walk slowly around the circle of captive guests, causing them to shuffle away from him every few seconds. Perhaps because of this he steadily started drawing nearer and nearer to them, chucking when one of them stumbled and fell. After a few minutes of this he continued, "I'm going to give you presents!"<p>

This threw even Robin off guard, though only for a moment. The young hero quickly realized the presents were most likely bombs set to go off when opened. A glance at Batman confirmed his theory. The Dark Knight's normal frown had deepened and his white-masked eyes were narrowed.

The guests didn't come to the same conclusion as quickly. They turned to each other and muttered questions with confused looks on their faces. Using the momentary distraction the Joker took out a gun and cocked it. Robin immediately tensed and prepared to jump down at him, but before he could the Joker pointed the gun at the ceiling and fired. The sound prompted the guests to scream again but the watching vigilantes saw the severed rope dangle from the ceiling and a large wooden crate start to fall to the ground.

When the crate hit the floor the sides splintered and blew outward, causing even more panic among the guests. Dozens of colourfully wrapped presents tumbled out of the crate, all of them different sizes and with different patterned wrapping paper.

In the confusion, Robin glimpsed the Joker quickly making his way to the front door. Just as he was about to open it a large black batarang stuck in the wood next to his hand with a loud thud. Robin took the cue and jumped to the ground after his mentor, landing beside him with a smirk.

"I was wondering if you'd show up Batsy," the Joker laughed without turning around to face them, "But then again it's not like you miss a party, is it?"

"The presents...look!" Robin pointed to the pile of presents. Batman, whose attention had been focused on the Joker, glanced over to see some of the packages leaking a faint yellow gas into the room.

"Mask on, get the guests out of the window to the left," Batman ordered before quickly slipping on his gas mask. Robin followed suit and ran over the window Batman had indicated. It was blocked by four masked goons, all of which promptly pointed their guns at him and began firing.

Robin jumped to the right and flipped back up to land on the end guard's head, bashing it into the wall behind him. He quickly jumped foreword to land in between the next two, who, in their haste to shoot the young hero, accidentally shot each other. They fell to the ground but their moans of pain let Robin know that they were still alive. The last guard was taken out with several quick punches to the chest.

Robin pulled the large window open and turned back to the center of the room. The guests were still screaming and running around while the yellow Joker venom started to spread throughout the room. So far he didn't hear any laughing other than that of the Joker himself, who he couldn't see. There was also no sign of Batman, but Robin couldn't worry about that. He had to get everyone else out safely.

He whistled loudly to get the attention of those nearest to him. Many of the men and women turned to look at him while others continued panicking.

"This way! Go out here and get away as fast as you can!" he ordered. The sight of the Boy Wonder seemed to be enough to calm most of the panicked guests and they started hurrying toward him. Once half of them had climbed out through the window the remaining goons seemed to catch on and started running toward them.

Robin threw smoke pellets toward the oncoming men and jumped straight into the rising smoke. The coughing and heavy footfalls of the goons made it easy for him to find them and knock them out. After only a few minutes most of the guards were down while the rest had been smart enough to stay away from the smoke cloud.

Thankfully, the dense smoke blocked the remainder of the escaping guests from their view. There were five guards remaining when the sound Robin had been dreading filled the room. A second, deeper, laugh had joined the high-pitched giggle of the Joker. It could only be Batman's.

Still hidden in the smoke screen, Robin couldn't see Batman or the Joker, but could tell that the laughing was coming from his left and across the room. Without waiting for the smoke to clear he leaped out and punched the nearest goon's masked face, knocking him back into another. He threw birdarangs at the last three, knocking their guns away before they even knew he was there. Robin then jumped toward the unarmed goons and knocked two of them into each other when they tried to reach him. The last one he tripped before ripping his clown mask off. After a few seconds the man began to chuckle and then outright laugh maniacally as a huge grin stretched across his face.

With the goons taken care of Robin turned toward the source of Batman's laughter. After a few seconds he located the Joker, who was standing facing the far corner and pointing his right arm at something in front of him. Without thinking Robin ran forward and threw a bridarang at the psychopath's back, hopping to at least distract him from his victim.

At the last second the clown turned and dodged the flying weapon, laughing when he saw Robin running toward him. "Take a look at your precious Bat, Boy Blunder! Time to say goodbye!"

With another burst of laughter the Joker stepped aside, again pointing his right arm, which held his gun, at the black mass in the corner. Robin was only halfway across the room when the mass shifted and he saw the distinctive eared cowl lift and turn to look at him. He saw the mouth stretched wide in a sick grin and the broken gas mask half-hanging off of Batman's face. The white eyes of the Dark Knight's mask widened when they locked onto Robin's before turning to stare down the barrel of the Joker's gun as the clown pulled the trigger.

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><p><strong>Uh-oh, another cliffhanger! Worse than the last one, huh? What do you think will happen? Is Robin going to save Batman or will he be to late...? Hahaha! Let me know your theories! Anything can happen...<strong>


	4. Chapter 4

**Thanks for the awesome reviews, everyone! There are a couple I want to mention:**

_**KTrevo-**_

**No, I don't torture people for a living. It's more like a hobby. :)**

_**CHiKa-RoXy-**_

**Thank you for the review! Yes, it did make me feel idolized. :) I love it when someone really enjoys my writing!**

_**So everything until the break (anon) -**_

**That is an interesting idea, and you even gave me some inspiration, but I have something else planned for this story! :)I think you guys will be really surprised when it comes around...**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice, I'm just abusing their characters for fun. Sorry Robin...**

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><p>Robin didn't slow down even when he saw the Joker pulling the trigger of his gun. He had almost reached the sick clown when a loud crack erupted from the gun and a red flag labelled <em>BANG! <em>popped out.

Robin couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. As he did, however, and loud shout of laughter burst from his mouth. He quickly stifled it, worried that some Joker venom had somehow gotten into his gas mask. Then he remembered the liquid venom and the giggle from earlier. The effects were coming back.

The hero ignored his fears as he finally reached the Joker, who turned the flagged gun in his direction and pulled the trigger again. This time the flag shot out like a bullet, headed straight for Robin's head.

He quickly dodged the flag and jumped back toward the Joker without hesitation. Batman's laughter still rang in his ears, urging him to hurry. The Joker pulled out his knife again, grinning as he flicked it open.

Robin landed in front of him, the clown's red grin just a foot from his own smirk. Without waiting for the villain to start up a conversation that would only make him furious, Robin took out his two eskrima sticks and swung one at the Joker's head. The clown dodged easily and swiped at the hero with his knife, aiming for his heart. The blade only scratched Robin's red tunic as he stumbled back, struggling to regain his balance. The Joker took the opportunity and grabbed Robin's arm to throw him against a wall.

Robin was already short of breath from fighting the goons and from the Joker venom before that, but hitting the wall winded him completely, giving the Joker enough time to pin him against the wall and hold the knife to his neck.

"Now, now, little birdy, don't give me that look. I'm just trying to have some fun!" the villain laughed, only causing Robin's scowl to deepen. "Now, that just won't do. Let's give you a nice big smile like Batsy over there. But this time, let's make it permanent!" The psychopath's last words ended with a chuckle as he pressed the knife closer to Robin's neck. The boy struggled against the tight hold on his chest, but the Joker only pushed him back harder, crushing his already weakened lungs.

Robin glanced behind the Joker and saw that most of the yellow gas had gone, probably through the open window. The clown must have noticed before, or he would have just taken off the boy's gas mask and let him collapse laughing. But now when his mask was removed, Robin only glared harder at the pasty-white face only inches from his own. The red-paint grin a sick mimicry of real clown make-up.

With his victim's face free of the bulky gas mask, the Joker lifted his knife to carve a smile on Robin's face. The young hero again started to try and wiggle free of the man's crushing hold that pinned him to the wall. Just as the cold blade of the knife touched his cheek Robin freed one arm and punched the Joker in the face. The villain stumbled back, but the punch caused his hand to slip and the knife cut deeply into Robin's cheek before he was free. He ignored the stinging pain and tripped the unsteady Joker, even managing a smirk when he hit the ground.

Robin pinned the villain down and handcuffed his hands behind his back before he could get up and fight. As an extra precaution he tied his feet together tightly and then chained him to a decorative lamp attached to a wall.

Finally free of the Joker, Robin rushed to Batman's side and pulled out a syringe from his utility belt. He quickly injected the antidote into his mentor's arm and waited breathlessly for him to stop laughing.

After a minute that lasted a life-time to the boy the crazed laughter slowed and quieted before stopping completely. Robin sighed and released the breath he had been holding. Another small giggle escaped his mouth but he paid it no attention. Batman took another minute to regain his breath before he said anything. Before he could get out a word, however, Robin interrupted with a summery of the fight.

"As far as I know everyone got out safely. The goons are taken care of but not tied up and Joker's handcuffed and tied up over there."

"Good. Tie up the guards and we can leave," Batman croaked. He already tried to stand up, only managing it with Robin's help, but then insisted on helping to tie up the guards and check the Joker's bonds before leaving.

They left through a back door and could hear the police sirens already on the street. The exhausted pair slowly walked to an alley not far from the mansion and found the Batmobile waiting in the shadows for them.

Without a word they got in and Batman started speeding back to the Batcave and Wayne Manor. Once safely on the road Batman turned to get his first good look at his partner since they had been perched above the party. Robin noticed his mentor's calculating gaze was suddenly hit by the pain in his left cheek where the Joker had cut him. He hissed and held a gloved hand to the cut. It came away bloody.

"I'm fine," he said, although he knew he looked anything but, "It's just a cut, nothing serious. I stopped him before he could do anything else."

"I should have been more careful then he wouldn't have gotten the chance," Batman had returned his eyes to the road but Robin could hear the regret in his voice.

"It's not your fault," the young hero insisted, "I could have attacked him from a distance and..."

"I could have stopped him before you needed to help," Batman interrupted him, "I let my guard down and he broke my mask."

"It's not that bad, really! I can hardly even feel it!" Robin said. He always hated it when Bruce blamed himself for everything that happened to him. His argument was ruined, however, when he winced and held his hand to the cut again when it stung. Even through the cowl he could tell Batman didn't believe him. "Alfred can fix me right up, it might not even scar," he mumbled.

The argument would have gone on, but by that time they had reached the Batcave and were already climbing out as the butler in question approached.

"What was it this time?" Alfred asked as he took in their appearances. He gave a slight _tut_ upon seeing the cut but otherwise remained silent as he waited for an answer.

"Joker at the party. I got cut," Robin answered simply when Bruce, now without his cowl, didn't respond.

"Did you capture him?"

"Yeah, and his goons. No one got hurt."

"That's good. Now Master Dick, this way please. I would like to take a look at that cut before it gets infected," Alfred ushered him away to the cave's medical area and began cleaning the cut immediately. Dick complied without a fight, hopping to make Bruce happy by not being difficult.

When Alfred finished Dick looked in a mirror at the new feature on his face. The cut was still bright red and extended from near to the corner of his mouth to under his left eye. It wasn't perfectly straight, however, and covered the space in crooked lines.

"Well...it could be worse..." Dick sighed, "What am I going to tell my school?"

"We'll just use one of the usual excuses, I'm sure," Alfred answered.

"Fell out of a tree again? It might work..." When Dick tried to continue, a loud shout of laughter came from his mouth. He quickly covered his mouth and turned back to face Alfred and Bruce, who were both watching him worriedly.

"Is there something you forgot to mention?" Alfred asked.

Dick slowly lowered his hands and answered, "I drank some liquid Joker venom. Bruce gave me the antidote but I keep laughing at weird times. That was the fourth time it happened."

"The fourth? I only remember it once before," Bruce said sharply.

"The second time was when you were laughing from the venom and I was fighting Joker, and then again after I gave you the antidote."

"You were hit with the gas too, Master Bruce?" Alfred turned to Bruce, whose expression grew stony as he turned away and gave only a stiff nod in answer. The old butler sighed and continued cleaning up the medical supplies he had used on Dick.

The teenager sat quietly on a metal rail, not bothering to change out of his costume. After a few minutes Alfred left to go back up to the manor and left the two still-costumed heroes in a heavy silence broken only by Bruce's taping at the computer.

Dick took to tracing the cut on his cheek and became familiar with the oddly-shaped mark. He had just decided to change back into civilian clothing when Bruce stood up from the computer pulled on his cowl with the order, "We're going to the mountain, get ready."

Dick didn't bother questioning the command and simply ran to the weapon's shelves to restock his utility belt and find a new mask. He didn't bother changing into a clean costume because Bruce was already waiting for him.

As he rushed toward his mentor Dick realized that he was still out of breath and tired from the previous fight. He shook it off and tried to focus on the mission Batman had planned. It had to be important if he was being sent off this soon after the fight.

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><p><strong>AN: Any ideas about what Robin's little laughing outbursts mean? Think they're going to be important later? I also tried my best at his and Bruce's interaction about the cut. Also, Alfred! Love that butler! 3**

**Don't forget to review, and I'd love some criticisms and compliments! Saying "please update!" is cool and all, but it's nice to get some detailed feedback. :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Sorry for the wait, there was a little trouble editing this one, but here it is now! Hopefully error-free and wonderful for you! Who's super excited for the new episode tomorrow? I can't wait!**

**I don't own Young Justice. If I did, I'd be super rich. And I'm not. So I don't.**

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><p><strong>Recognized:<strong>_** Batman 02**_

_**Recognized: Robin B01**_

The mechanical voice announced the arrival of the Dynamic Duo to the inhabitants of Mt. Justice and their other visitors. It being a Saturday all of the team was hanging out at the cave. Batman and Robin found them gathered around the TV in the main living area.

M'gann and Conner were sitting on the smaller of the two couches and watching the TV screen change rapidly between channels. The source of this was Wally and Artemis fighting over the remote. Wally was trying to keep it away from the archer by jumping on the furniture around the room while Artemis chased him and yelled insults in surprising variation. Zatanna, who now lived at the cave, had taken refuge in the corner and was watching the chase with amusement on her face. Kaldur was sitting in an armchair with a book in his lap and his head in his hands.

The Atlantian was the first to notice the new arrivals and seized the opportunity to stop the chase scene in front of him.

"Batman, Robin! What brings you here?" he said loudly enough to be heard over Artemis's shouting. Wally paused at the sound of his best friend's name but Artemis didn't stop fast enough to avoid crashing into him at full speed. The two toppled over and crashed into the coffee table, creating a large crack in the center and initiating colorful swearing from both teens.

Robin fought to hold in a laugh while Batman glared at the two before turning to Kaldur and saying in a quiet voice that still carried across the room, "Tell your team to suit up and be in the mission briefing room in five minutes." Kaldur nodded and Batman swept out of the room, leaving the teenagers to get ready. Robin stayed to watch the continuing fight in the middle of the room.

"Wally! Artemis! Settle down now!" Kaldur ordered with a glare at his offending teammates, "Batman just ordered us to suit up for a mission in five minutes. Get going now!"

With subdued expressions both teens left the room quickly with the rest of the team following closely. Kaldur was the last to leave, and before he did he turned to Robin and said, "It is nice to see you, Robin. Do you know what the mission is about?"

"No idea. Batman just told me to come with him," Robin shrugged. Kaldur nodded and turned to go, but something seemed to catch his eye. He turned back and studied Robin's face for a moment before opening his mouth to say something. Before he could though, Robin interrupted, already knowing what he wanted to ask, "It's nothing. Just a run-in with the Joker." Once again Kaldur nodded and turned to leave. When he was gone Robin started walking to the mission room and started tracing the cut on his cheek again.

He was the first to arrive in the large room. Batman was typing at the holographic computer on the lit-up floor. Robin stood in his usual place in front of the display with his back to hall where his friends were just entering.

"Rob! You're here!" Wally exclaimed as he zoomed up behind his friend and clapped him on the back. Robin's previous exhaustion came back and he wobbled for a moment before he regained his balance and shrugged off the momentary weakness with a grin. Wally's similar grin faded when he saw the red mark on his friend's face. "Dude, what happ-"

"I'll tell you later. It's no big deal," Robin interrupted, swatting away Wally's pointing finger. The speedster grabbed his hand before he could lower it, however, and held the black glove closer to his face to make out the red stains on the palm and fingers.

His emerald green eyes raised to meet Robin's masked ones when he asked slowly, "Yours or-"

"I told you, it's no big deal," Robin assured through gritted teeth and snatched his hand away, wishing he could have changed into a clean costume.

Suspiciously, Wally began searching his friend for any other injuries or blood stains. Almost immediately he saw the thin scratch on Robin's chest where the Joker's knife had cut the outer red fabric and grazed the kevlar beneath. The black material was just visible through the opening and seemed to assure the speedster that Robin wasn't actually cut.

"I'll tell you later, now pay attention," Robin hissed and turned back to face Batman. Wally followed suit as the rest of their team lined up next to them.

"I just received intelligence that Sportsmaster is receiving a shipment of Cobra Venom today at this location," Batman said. Behind him a red dot appeared on a close-up of a small city just outside of Happy Harbor. Robin opened up his wrist computer and locked the coordinates. The building was a small warehouse that had been abandoned years before. _What is it with villains and warehouses? _He wondered,_ Can't they afford to be a little more creative?_

"The delivery should be arriving within the next two hours. Your job is to get in, stop the delivery, and secure the venom before Sportsmaster gets it. It's a large shipment but it was unclear if this is a new formula or not, so be careful. You're dismissed."

The team all nodded their understanding and began walking toward the bio-ship's hangar. "Robin, wait here," Batman said. Robin obediently waited until the rest of the team was out of ear-shot for Batman to speak. "Are you sure you can handle this? The fight from before was exhausting and it would be best to look at the Joker venom you took in as soon as possible."

"I can handle this," Robin said, "And we can look at the venom later. I haven't laughed in a while, so maybe it was just after-effects."

"Don't assume too much, but you can go. Just be careful," Batman warned. Robin nodded and hurried to catch up with his team in the bio-ship.

Everyone else was already in their seats and waiting by the time he got to the ship. Wally and Kaldur both watched him closely as he sat down in his usual seat. Robin hoped they wouldn't ask him about the cut until after the mission, but luck wasn't on his side.

"So Rob, how'd you get that cut?" Wally asked in a heavier tone than usual.

"What cut? What happened?" M'gann asked at once.

"It's nothing, the Joker just-" Robin started to explain but was cut off by Wally.

"The Joker? Just today? Dude! Why are coming on this mission? You should-"

"I'm fine!" Robin interrupted, finally turning to face the rest of the team. The others quickly found the long cut on his face and burst into a chorus of exclamations and questions. "Listen!" Robin yelled to quiet them down. They did and he continued, "A couple hours ago the Joker was at party and tried to kill everyone. When I was fighting him he cut me with his knife. It could have been worse."

"So the blood?" Wally asked in the silence that followed. Robin wanted to punch his friend for mentioning it when he had just calmed everyone down about one thing.

"Blood? Where?" Artemis asked immediately, "How can you think none of this is a big deal? What is a big deal to you?"

"It's on his gloves," Wally answered, "And a big deal is near-death to a Bat."

"Is the blood yours?" Kaldur asked. His voice was the most controlled and Robin was grateful for it.

"Yeah. I didn't have time to change into a clean costume once we got back before I had to come here," he only looked at Kaldur when he answered and tried to ignore the comments and questions of the rest of the team.

His leader nodded once and said loud enough for the others to hear, "If you think you are strong enough to come on the mission then I see no reason why you cannot."

"We're approaching the coordinates," M'gann announced. The others were silenced and became focused on the mission ahead. Robin just hoped they would stay that way until they got back to the mountain. Then he could deal with their concern.

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><p><strong>And we finally see the team! Sorry for the lack of Roy, I'm still trying to get used to him being on the team now and by the time I remembered he is I was almost done with the chapter. So no Roy this time. :(<strong>

**Anyway, thanks for reading and don't forget to review!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorry for the wait again, testing is coming up and that means I'm drowning in homework so I don't have as much time to write. I've also started a little project for another fanfiction I'm planning. I'll put more information at the end of this chapter.**

**So I had some help with the fight scene in this one, curtesy of _Magpie of Silver_****, who is also beta-ing this fic. She's awesome and helped out tons so you guys don't have to read my crappy fight scene! Yay! I'll get better, I promise. :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice. Or a lot of things, really. Like a llama. I don't own a llama. Pity.**

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><p>M'gann landed the camouflaged bio-ship on the roof of a building next to the warehouse where the delivery was supposed to take place.<p>

"We will surround the building in groups and wait until the venom arrives," Kaldur said before the team left the ship, "Robin and Artemis will watch the front, Zatanna and Superboy on the far side, and KidFlash, Miss Martian and I will take the near side. Miss Martian, set up a telepathic link before we get in position."

M'gann nodded and after a second her voice sounded in the other's minds. _Is everyone online?_ Everyone confirmed and the team moved out to take up their positions.

_Is everyone ready?_ Aqualad asked.

_We're good, _Zatanna confirmed.

_We're set,_ Artemis said.

_Good, now we wait._

Robin settled into a crouch on the roof of the warehouse and started watching the road. Artemis relaxed next to him and glanced at the younger hero before whispering, "So that happens a lot?"

Robin sighed and turned to face the archer. He wished she could have left the cut alone, but he supposed his idea of a big deal was different than the rest of his team's. "Yeah, but usually it's not my face. The Joker just has a twisted sense of humor."

"He does that for fun? I thought that was just a rumor to make him seem worse!" Artemis growled.

"The rumors aren't nearly as bad as the real psychopath," Robin snorted, "He does everything to amuse himself, not for money or revenge. He wanted to give me a permanent smile today."

Artemis seemed lost for words so Robin turned back to watching the road. He didn't see why he shouldn't tell Artemis the truth about the Joker. She did live in Gotham after all, not that she knew he knew that bit of information.

The minutes passed in silence until Robin spotted the headlights of a car coming down the road. By that time night had almost fallen and his muscles were getting sore from waiting on the rooftop.

_I think I see the truck. Get ready, _he said.

_Understood,_ Aqualad said, _Move in on my signal._

The large truck turned to enter the warehouse and the door in front opened to let it in. Artemis notched an arrow to her bow and waited for the order to go in.

_Robin, Artemis, now!_

Robin and Artemis leapt down from their hidden perch and slipped through the doors before they could close. They were immediately confronted by around twenty of Sportsmaster's men who turned in surprise at finding two young heroes standing in front of them. The shocked silence was short-lived as the windows on either side of the building shattered and the rest of the team joined them.

Robin quickly got to work, he threw a couple of birdarangs, catching two guys by their clothes and pinning them neatly to the wall. Then he turned his attention to the nearest group of thugs, he smashed his fist into the face of the first one and whipped his leg out and caught the second on the back of the knee, sending him crashing to the ground. He spun through the air and landed an elbow in the ribs of the third. That took care of them. Arrows sped past him as Artemis got down to business too. She took out another four in quick succession. Robin was becoming aware of a dull pain from his earlier fight at the party, just what he needed right now.

"Rob, Sportsmaster's getting away!" Wally shouted above the noise, Robin turned from the guy he had just knocked out and glanced around, assessing the situation before him. He saw that everyone else was busy and Sportsmaster was slipping away with a briefcase, Robin assumed it was stuffed full of money. He sighed and headed after the villain, leaping over a few fallen thugs he managed to head him off just before he reached the warehouse door.

Robin tried throwing a birdarang to distract Sportsmaster, it worked, as Sportsmaster easily dodged the weapon and spun to face his attacker. Robin grinned as he ran and leapt at the man, ready to kick when a strong hand grabbed him by the leg and hauled him to the ground.

Robin rolled as he collided with the floor and shifted his momentum to give him some force for his next move. As he rolled to his feet Robin's head began to swim and he realized just how exhausted he was. He shook his head to clear his momentary daze and swung a punch at his adversary. He had two choices, get this fight finished already, or let Sportsmaster get away. Okay, so the latter wasn't really an option.

Robin forced Sportsmaster away from the door with birdarangs and punches until the villain pulled out his gun and began firing. Robin took this distraction to throw an explosive birdarang at the case he had been carrying, now discarded on the floor beside him. Sportsmaster realized his mistake and dove away from the mini explosion, cursing Robin as he crashed to the ground. He growled and shot at Robin again who expertly dodged the bullets by flipping up into the air and spinning out of the way.

As he sailed through the air a bizarre chuckle escaped Robin's lips, in a panic Robin flipped to the ground and was instantly over come by a fierce laughing fit.

The bullets ceased for a second as Sportsmaster hesitated at his opponent's strange behavior. The pause didn't last long, however, and a single shot sounded out above the laughing and sounds of fighting still going on. On instinct Robin reacted to the sound and moved to the side, but his sluggish dodge wasn't enough to prevent the bullet sinking into his arm.

Robin's strangled cry blended into his insane laughter as a wide grin was forced across his face. A heavy foot savagely kicked him in the stomach, winding the Boy Wonder again. He lost track of the villain, more concerned at the moment about fighting for air as he started fumbling with a pocket in his utility belt. Tears built up inside his mask and blurred his vision until they started leaking out around the adhesive. Eventually he pulled a syringe from the pocket, glad that he had taken another one before leaving the batcave. He clumsily emptied the clear liquid into his uninjured arm before dropping it and curling up to clutch his stomach as his laughter continued.

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><p><strong>AN: Oo, another cliffhanger! Haha! I love those things. So awesome for writers! Remember to review if you liked it! If you didn't, review and tell me why!**

**Now about that project I mentioned. I'm going to write a Young Justice/Hunger Games crossover with young DC heros as tributes in the games. I only used characters that have either appeared in the show or at least been hinted at or confirmed to appear later. I've also assigned districts and am currently figuring out details and mentors.**

**Now here's the fun part: You guys get to pick the mentors for me. I've made a Tumblr blog for everything and I've been using it for awhile now. Sorry I didn't tell you sooner but I was still trying to figure everything out that I wanted to do. Now that I have a better handle on everything I'm letting you know! The blog is at **.com** if you want to check it out.**

**Later on you can sponsor tributes and I might have more voting if I can't figure something out on my own or just want more opinions. All of the information is on the blog so go take a look if you're interested. You don't even have to have a Tumblr to participate! You can ask questions and suggest things anonymously without an account. If you do have a Tumblr and are interested follow me so you don't miss anything!**

**I'll be posting chapters there once I start writing, but I'll also do it on my account here, so you won't miss anything except the chance to participate! I'll only be using sponsor tallies and ideas from Tumblr just because it's easier for me to keep track of everything. I really hope you check it out and let me know what you think. I'm really excited for this fic and the more people that help me out the more fun it will be for everyone!**

**Thanks for reading my little announcement, so until next time (or until you say hi on Tumblr), have an astrous day!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Kind of surprised I managed to finish this at all. That season finally...well, let's just say it was brutal. Also, nothing that happened or will happen in the future will effect this fic. Future ones, yes, but this is just going to continue as it is. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice**

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><p>***Wally***<p>

Wally felt his fist connect with a thug's nose and watched as the man fell to the ground. As he took a second to regain his breath a chilling laugh rose up from the back of the warehouse. The sound immediately reminded him of the Joker's laugh, but something was different about it. Something familiar. He turned in the direction of the sound and tried to find its source. When he finally saw who it was he almost wished he hadn't.

Robin was kneeling in front of the back door. He shook with violent laughter while Sportsmaster watched him in confusion. The momentary surprise didn't last, however, and the villain lifted his large gun to shoot at the boy. Robin tried to move away, but he was to slow and a strangled cry of pain mingled with his continued laughter as the bullet sank onto his arm. When he looked up again at the villain his face was contorted into a painful grin. Sportsmaster walked up and kicked him in the stomach, forcing the boy to curl into a ball and gasp for air that was already refusing to come. With that last action the man left through the back door, but he was the least of Wally's concerns.

Even as Sportsmaster left Robin started fumbling with a pocket of his utility belt. Wally looked away to take out another thug, but when the man was down and he turned back to his friend Robin had already emptied the contents of a small syringe into his right arm. Wally's thoughts immediately assumed the worst, although he wasn't sure at that moment what that would be. Rather than reflect on that thought Wally sped into action.

"Oh god no. What was that?" Wally said even as he ran over to his best friend's side and knelt next to him. Robin showed no sign of recognition as tears leaked out of his mask. His forced grin looked even more painful up close and his laugh more horrible. Wally took the empty syringe from his friend's shaking hand and examined at it for a label but found nothing. "Rob, what did you do? What happened?" Wally moaned. He dropped the syringe and scooped up the smaller boy without waiting for an answer he was sure wouldn't come.

_Miss M., open up the bio-ship. Something's wrong with Robin. He can't stop laughing and he just injected himself with something. I don't know what it was,_ Wally said though the team's telepathic link as he ran out of the warehouse where the fighting was still going on.

_Did Sportsmaster get away?_ Aqualad asked.

_Yeah, but I think Rob blew up the venom. Well, I saw something explode and Sportsmaster didn't have anything with him when he left,_ Wally answered. When he reached the bio-ship the door was already open so he ran in and set Robin down in the small med-bay.

As he did Robin's laughter quieted somewhat and the boy gasped to draw in air. The demented chuckles still came out but he seemed more in control of his breathing. After a minute of painful gasping and continued snickers he managed to croak out, "Sp-sportsmaster?"

"He got away. Did you blow up the venom?" A nod in answer. "Whathappened? Whyareyou laughing? Dude, whatdidyou inject yourself with?" Wally tried to slow his words so they didn't come out in superspeed, but even so it seemed to take Robin a minute to understand what he had asked. By that time the rest of the team was trudging into the bio-ship. Wally listened to their confused pause when they heard Robin's laugh, but he only watched as his best friend tried to speak through the painful grin stretched across his face.

"J-Joker venom...antidote isn't...isn't working."

"Joker venom?" Robin had told him about the gas before. His stories always made it sound horrible, but Wally had never believed that a gas that made you laugh could be all that scary. How wrong he had been.

"Wally, what happened to Robin?" Kaldur's voice brought the speedster out of his thoughts. He turned to find the rest of the team minus M'gann watching him and waiting for an answer. He could tell they were trying not look at Robin, curled up on the medical bed with his back to them, his shoulders shaking with laughter. Even so their eyes kept drifting back to the Boy Wonder.

Wally quickly explained the problem and watched his teammates faces for their reactions. Zatanna closed her eyes to avoid looking at Robin. Wally could easily tell she was worried for the boy. Kaldur looked confused but tried to seem in control of the situation. Conner merely looked confused and Artemis looked almost terrified. Why would she, though? It's wasn't like she could have seen Joker venom before. Wally had assumed that she lived in Star City with her uncle, far away from the Joker's crimes.

This time Conner's voice brought the speedster from his thoughts. "But he's laughing. Isn't that good?"

Wally shook his head, patient with the clone's confusion, "Joker venom makes it so you can't stop laughing. Rob told me that people either go into a coma from lack of air or suffocate and die. It depends on the formula, but either way his antidote should have worked. There must be something different about this batch."

"I'll notify Batman," Kaldur said before turning and walking back to the main room to contact the man. He would not be happy to learn about Robin's situation.

Conner quickly followed the Atlantian, but Artemis lingered for a minute in the doorway. She bit her lip, her expression conflicted before finally turning to join the rest. Zatanna seemed rooted to her spot but had opened her eyes with a terrified expression at the mention of death. She watched Robin's shaking form for a few seconds before looking back at Wally. The speedster had turned back to his best friend, but he didn't see the figure lying on the white bed. Instead he saw the unthinkable possibilities if Batman couldn't figure out what was wrong with Robin. Having voiced the fate of Joker venom victims the full realization of what was happening had finally hit him.

Robin could die.

The worst blow was finally seeing what happened to so many people in Gotham whenever the Joker decided to have his fun, what happened to even Robin on more than a few occasions.

"You should go back to the others. Staying here and listening to him won't do anything," Zatanna said. Her voice was so soft Wally almost didn't catch her words.

"I have to stay in case something happens..."

"I'll stay. You go," With that, Zatanna moved farther into the room and gently pushed Wally toward the door. He didn't bother resisting and simply shuffled back to his usual seat in the ship. The others only glanced at him as he slumped down in the chair, his eyes fixed on nothing, only staring into empty space.

***Zatanna***

When Wally was finally gone Zatanna quickly shut the door to the small room. She stayed frozen there, with one hand on the doorknob and the other pressed against the plastic-like material, her eyes wide but seeing nothing. Robin's chuckles rang in the silence, punctuated by desperate gasps that she imagined a fish out of water might make if it could gasp.

The magician found it impossible to move for another minute, so she stood and listened and wished she had the strength to _do_ something. Instead she simply stayed there, motionless. She silently hated herself for her weakness. Her ignorance. Maybe her dad would have known a spell to help, but she had no clue what to do.

Finally Zatanna turned to get her first good look at the laughing boy. He was turned away from her, his legs curled up to his body, his shoulders shaking violently. It was then that she noticed what Wally hadn't mentioned. Robin's left arm, the one not against the bed, was bloody and limp.

At once she was at his side and trying to force him out of the tight ball he had become. Robin fought for a moment, but soon was to weak to resist. When Zatanna finally got him to lie on his back she glanced up and froze at the look of pain on his face. His mouth was opened in a tortured grin and even through his black mask tears streamed down his face.

The girl swallowed the lump in her throat and forced herself to examine Robin's arm. It wasn't pretty. The blood seemed to be thickest halfway between his shoulder and elbow, so she started there.

After a few tense minutes in which Zatanna's main thoughts were, _God I wish I knew a spell to help him_, and, _this is why I can't be a nurse,_ Robin's arm was cleaned of blood and she could see what was clearly a bullet wound that was still bleeding more than was safe for the boy.

Relying on nothing more than basic knowledge about bullets and blood loss, the magician proceeded to disinfect the wound and wrap it tightly in clean white bandages. Her efforts dragged even more pained gasps from Robin and she could tell that even in his position he was still trying not to be difficult and waited through her amateur attempts to clean his arm.

When she finished, Zatanna looked over her handy work and said quietly, almost to herself, "Sorry, that's the best I can do." At that time she felt the soft lurch that meant the bio-ship had landed. She had taken less time than she thought to take care of Robin's wound. It couldn't have been that long of a flight from the warehouse back to the mountain.

A sigh of relief escaped the girl. Robin would be fine. Batman was probably already waiting for them. He'd know what to do, he always did.

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><p><strong>AN: Okay, so you know what's going on with Robin (sort of) but not much else exciting happened. I tried to be vague with the medical stuff because I know next to nothing about it. Just enough to write this! As always, review and tell me what you thought. The next chapter should be finished in a day or two and edited in another couple days. Sorry, I was ahead when I started but I've gotten sort of behind lately. Just be patient with me! :)**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8 for you! I hope you're enjoying reading this as much as I am writing it!**

**Disclaimer: Own Young Justice? Nope, not yet. ;)**

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><p>"Why won't he tell us anything?" Wally was pacing in front of the static-filled window opened on the holographic screen in the mission room. Batman had just cut off the transmission after informing the team that Robin had been safely taken to the Batcave. He had neglected to mention anything regarding his protégé's health despite the worried questions from the team.<p>

"He could at least let us know if he's still laughing," Artemis huffed. As soon as the bio-ship had landed at the mountain Batman had swooped in and disappeared with Robin faster than they could say 'Joker venom.'

It had taken an hour for him to even answer their calls and when he did he was extremely agitated. The teens hadn't received more than two sentences from the man before he warned them to leave him alone or he'd visit the cave personally and, as he put it bluntly, "Give you each a lesson in patience that you won't forget." That had shut them up long enough for the man to end the video transmission and leave them in their current state of agitation.

"What did he mean, 'teach us a lesson'?" M'gann asked.

"You don't want to know. Trust me," Wally assured her, causing the Martian to look even more confused.

"Why did he have to take Robin to the Batcave? It would have been easier to leave him here!" Zatanna said.

"I believe Batman wished to avoid our interference in the matter," Kaldur suggested. Of all of them, he appeared to be the least on edge, but his voice betrayed his worry.

"Yeah, and he has all of his fancy gadgets there," Wally said. He had stopped pacing to stand and glare at the static-filled screen with the message _Connection disabled, _spread across it.

"We're still his friends, we should at least be able to know how he's doing!" Artemis growled, using her hands to emphasize her point by throwing them up above her head.

"Wasn't he shot, too?" Conner asked.

"Yeah, I tried to help as much as I could, but I wasn't really sure what to do," Zatanna admitted.

"What? _Someone_ forgot to mention that little detail!" Artemis glared at Wally until the speedster resumed his pacing to avoid meeting her gaze.

"I was more concerned with the fact that he _couldn't breathe!_ He's been shot loads of times and-"

"So that makes it any less important?" Artemis interrupted.

"No! I just- well he-" Wally stumbled on his words in his rush to explain his thinking at the time. He hadn't thought it wasn't _important_...just not _as_ important.

"This is no time to be fighting!" Kaldur said, cutting off Wally's stuttered sentences. "The best we can do is wait for more information from Batman and hope that Robin is okay. Until then, fighting with each other will not solve anything."

Wally and Artemis remained silent but continued glaring at each other. Kaldur seemed relieved to have achieved that much and suggested that they all relax until Batman updates them on Robin's condition.

"Not that he did before," Wally grumbled as he left the mission room. He headed in the direction of his temporary room at the mountain. M'gann and Zatanna both started toward the kitchen while Conner left to find sphere. Kaldur and Artemis exchanged a brief look before the archer stalked off toward the gym to take out her frustration on a punching bag. The Atlantian sighed and started walking toward his own room, equally worried about Robin as about keeping the rest of his team calm.

M'gann and Zatanna silently agreed to make snacks for the rest of the team in an attempt to calm the tension. They worked in silence for a few minutes, the only sound being Zatanna's occasional spell. M'gann broke the quiet.

"What do you think made Robin start laughing in the warehouse?"

"Joker venom," Zatanna answered without thinking, "That's what Wally said."

"Yes, but there couldn't have been gas in the warehouse or we all would have breathed it in," M'gann insisted. Zatanna opened her mouth to answer but closed it after a few seconds of thought.

"I...don't know," she finally admitted, "Unless Sportsmaster somehow had it then I don't see how that could have happened."

"But he wouldn't be working with the Joker, would he?" the Martian girl's voice betrayed her fear despite her calm expression.

"No. They can't be working together," Zatanna sounded more confident than she felt, but she didn't want to know what would happen if Sportsmaster started working with the Joker, "Besides, Robin and Batman fought the Joker earlier today. They would have had to be working together before that and Batman would know if they were."

"I guess that makes sense..." but M'gann sounded unsure. The two cooked in silence for awhile before M'gann spoke again, "Wait, Robin did fight the Joker today, right?" Zatanna nodded, "So what if he was hit with the gas before and then breathed it in again during the fight?"

"But Robin would have told us if he had been hit with it," Zatanna countered, "There's no way he'd want to be on a mission after that."

"He didn't care about the cut on his cheek. Maybe Joker venom is just another normality for him," M'gann suggested. She shuddered at the thought of that being considered an average day for the boy.

"He still would have told us," Zatanna insisted, but her voice didn't carry the same conviction as before.

"He didn't want to tell us about the cut."

"Batman wouldn't have let him-"

"What about Batman?" Wally's voice startled the girls, who had been concentrating on cooking and hadn't noticed the red head come into the kitchen.

"I thought you went to your room?" Zatanna said, trying to calm herself down and think about her and M'gann's conversation.

"I smelled food," Wally shrugged as he inspected the half-finished snacks laid out on the counter, "So what were you saying about Batman?"

"That he wouldn't have let Robin come on the mission if he had been hit with Joker venom from their fight before they came," Zatanna answered in one breath, no longer sure of her own theory.

"They've both worked through worse. And what got you thinking about that?" Wally asked with his mouth half filled with an assortment of food. M'gann grabbed a bowl of nuts from his hand as she answered.

"We were wondering why Robin started laughing in the first place. I thought that he might have had Joker venom left on his costume from before and just breathed it in again during his fight with Sportsmaster."

"He did say he didn't have time to change to a clean one before he came," Zatanna added as she began to consider the theory again.

"If it was just that his antidote would have worked on it. No, there's something different about this," Wally said, "And anyway, he would have told us if he had been hit before."

"That's what I said..." Zatanna muttered.

"Guys! Batman's got a report!" Artemis's shout jerked the three into action as they ran back to the mission room. Wally arrived first to find Artemis, Kaldur, and Conner already gathered around a video feed showing Batman and some of the Batcave behind him. The man looked worn and exhausted, but he couldn't get a word in over the team's loud questions.

Finally he gave them a glare and growled, "Enough, or I won't tell you anything," which immediately cut off their questions.

"I have discovered the chemical components of the venom that caused Robin's laughter. It is a new formula of Joker's with both immediate and delayed effects. From our earlier fight with the Joker, Robin was infected with a liquid form of the gas. The antidote only cured the immediate effects while the delayed...has started."

"Did you make a new antidote?" Wally asked when Batman paused. The man glared at him, but the speedster didn't back down. In the brief silence a loud burst of laughter came from just off screen. At once the team started demanding answers and yelling at Batman again.

The man only glared at them again before pressing a button and sending the screen into static. The talking stopped immediately but seconds later the screen turned back on and Batman's glare greeted them again.

"Don't interrupt me again," He warned. Six nods in response. "I am in the process of creating a new antidote. It should be done within the hour."

Batman's silence seemed to prompt them to ask a question, but this time only Kaldur spoke. "What of Robin's current condition?"

"He is...still laughing," Batman replied with a slight hesitation, "I managed to get the bullet out of his arm without much difficulty. Whoever bandaged it saved him a lot of blood loss and possibly more medical difficulties." Even though he didn't say it, Batman seemed to know it had been Zatanna. He gave the girl a slight nod and Zatanna took it as a thank you. She'd have to ask Robin how he understood the Bat so well without either of them saying a word. She'd only seen the silent communication a few times but the two seemed so connected it amazed her.

In the brief silence Wally spoke up with another question, "How come you haven't given Rob anaesthesia or something to knock him out?"

"I've tried, but something in the toxin is keeping him conscious. He hasn't been able to pass out but the semi-effective antidote has kept him from suffocating for the time being. I suspect that this version of the venom was designed to kill."

"Is that all?" Batman asked when no one said anything. The team exchanged glances before Kaldur answered in the affirmative. Batman nodded once and cut off the transmission.

There were a few second of silence before anyone managed to put their thoughts into words. It was Conner that managed it.

"So Robin should have died by now?"

"Yeah..." Artemis confirmed grimly, "And he would have if he hadn't had that antidote."

"Did Batman say he had taken the bullet out of his arm?" M'gann asked, deep in thought. The others nodded and she continued, "But he hasn't passed out at all. He would have been conscious through the whole thing."

"I'm sure he had painkillers or something. And it's probably nothing new..." Artemis said, but she sounded unsure.

"There is nothing we can do now but wait until Batman has completed the new antidote. We should not dwell on what we cannot help," Kaldur said, seeing where his teammates' thoughts were heading. They all nodded mutely and started wandering back to their respective places from before the transmission. Despite Kaldur's warning, all of them had the same thing on their mind.

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><p><strong>A little break from action for a bit. More angst. Please review and tell me what you thought! If you don't post fanfics on here than you might not know this...but reviews are our sustenance. The wood to out fire. The updrafts to our birds. The Joker to our Batman. In short; they're awesome and we need them. :) (Yeah, I love the Joker. Favorite comic book villain, closely followed by the Riddler!)<strong>


	9. Chapter 9

**I am so sorry for the wait! It took me a while to figure out what I wanted to do with this and then I have a ton of school stuff thrown at me and couldn't get to writing. But it's done now! Wow, how long has it been? A couple weeks, I think. I'll try to get the next one up soon and I hope they make up for the wait!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice**

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><p>Bruce sighed and sat back in his chair when the video transmission ended. Hopefully the team would be satisfied with what he told them and wait until the antidote was completed for more information.<p>

Farther back in the cave, he heard Dick's laughter as it echoed sickeningly off the stone walls. Even on the rare occasions they were low on the antidote when one of them was hit, it never lasted this long. They were always cured in a matter of minutes, not hours. If he was correct, then Dick had been laughing non-stop for two hours, the only thing keeping him alive being the meager amount of air that the first antidote allowed him to take in.

"Two hours..." Bruce muttered, "And it'll be at least another hour before it's ready." The beaker of clear liquid that could end his son's suffering sat innocently above a small blue flame, mocking the man as it slowly heated to the prober temperature. He had never felt so helpless as right then, able to do nothing but wait as the boy he'd taken in and raised so carefully and lovingly slowly laughed his life away.

"Master Bruce, you haven't eaten since breakfast yesterday. It won't do if you're weak and a new problem arrises," Alfred's voice drifted from behind the man. The butler sounded strained and worried, but unlike Bruce he was worried for both of his charges, not just the youngest one.

"I don't need food."

Alfred sighed at the expected response. Bruce listened as his retreating footsteps slowly melded with Dick's laughter until he knew the old butler was standing beside the boy. Bruce hadn't been able to bring himself to face Dick. It was his fault they were even in this mess. If he hadn't have sent him on that mission he would have found out about the full effects of the venom before anything even happened.

Bruce growled and turned to glare at the clear, odorless, unimposing beaker of liquid, willing it to heat faster and holding back the urge to punch something. Each second that ticked by felt like an eternity. Each moment inched closer to the inevitable time when Dick wouldn't be able to breathe anymore.

***Mt. Justice***

M'gann's head swam with the collective thoughts and feelings of her teammates. Their mental connection had become so strong in the past months that even without telepathically connecting their voices she could feel everything the team did. It was all a little to much for the Martian at one time.

"Megan, are you okay?" Zatanna asked in worry as the green-skinned girl held her head and steadied herself on the kitchen counter.

"I'm...fine," she said quietly, "It's just that everyone is so worried for Robin I can feel their fear. It's...just a lot to take in." M'gann tried putting on a reassuring smile for her friend but Zatanna looked saddened at the mention of Robin.

"I hope he'll be okay..." she said, lowering her eyes to the floor.

"He'll be fine, I'm positive. Batman said the antidote is nearly complete," M'gann assured her, sounding more confident than she felt.

"He also said Robin could have and should have been dead by now," Zatanna's mood was not to be easily lifted, but M'gann pushed on. She was reassuring herself as much her friend by that point.

"But he's not. Less and hour and Robin will be fine!"

"Yeah, but that's a long time when he's been laughing for what, two hours now?" Zatanna said, finally meeting M'gann's gaze. Tears threatened to fall from her eyes but she held them in, instead adopting a hard mask that she tried to hide behind. Even so, M'gann could feel exactly what the young magician was thinking as she continued talking, "What if Robin doesn't have an hour? Two hours of laughing, unable to breathe that whole time, and a bullet in his arm. Not to mention whatever he did with Batman before the mission! That's a lot, M'gann. That's to much. He can't go on forever."

M'gann had no response to that and simply remained silent. She watched as Zatanna's mask fell and her tears finally leaked out. The droplets were quickly wiped away but before the girl could turn away from her, M'gann burst into tears and hugged Zatanna, both to give comfort and to receive comfort. The team's emotions, coupled with her own and Zatanna crying had finally caught up to her. Zatanna composed herself enough to comfort the telepath, though her cheeks were still wet with tears.

Wally had been unable to stay in his room for longer than a minute, which was still quite an accomplishment for the speedster. He had quickly decided to avoid any of the others in the mountain and had proceeded to wander the many twisting hallways without really knowing where he was going.

After a few minutes he found himself out on a sort of balcony overlooking the ocean. It seemed as good a place as any to stop wandering and just sit so Wally climbed over the protective railing and rested his back against it, staring out at the ocean.

After a time, since he wasn't really sure how long he sat out there, Wally heard the door behind him open and close. No footsteps followed the soft snap of the door shutting, but the speedster didn't turn to see who had come out. A lengthy silence settled over the balcony until at last the new arrival moved.

The soft footsteps started to come forward and soon Artemis was leaning against the railing next to Wally. The heavy silence closed in again, but ended sooner when Artemis was the first to speak.

"Lost your voice? I've never heard you so quiet, Baywatch."

Wally took a while to answer, having to gather his thoughts from where they had been wandering. "Nah, I'm just...thinking."

"We should mark the calendar, I think this is a first."

The speedster's soft laugh was lost in the emptiness before them. Artemis continued talking when he didn't say anything. "What were you thinking about?"

If Wally noticed that Artemis was being kinder than usual but he didn't mention it. Instead he answered smoothly, "Oh, you know. Just...things."

"Robin?"

"How long is an hour?

"What?"

"How long is an hour?" Wally repeated, looking at Artemis for the first time since she came out.

"Sixty minutes-"

"No, that's not what I mean!" Wally interrupted. Artemis raised an eyebrow, clearly saying, "Then what _do_ you mean?"

The speedster elaborated, "For some insects, a day is their whole life. And hour would be a huge fraction of their lifetime. But other animals, like tortoises, can live for over a hundred years. An hour for them is nothing."

Artemis was still clearly confused, "Okay, but why is that important?"

Wally continued, "Have you ever noticed when you're in a fight or doing something really exciting that time just seems to fly away?" A short nod in response. "But in school when all you want is for the day to be over the minutes feel like hours?" Another nod. "For me, an hour feels like a long time. Even a few minutes is a long time! I think that's funny how an hour can be so long or so short and still be the same amount of time, don't you?"

"Yeah, fascinating," Artemis agreed tonelessly, "What's your point?" The archer was beginning to loose patience with the speedster's ramblings.

Wally turned to face her fully and said, "I can't have been out here for less than half an hour, but it's felt like no time at all. At the same time, someone at home right now might have spent that half-hour wishing it could go by faster. How long is an hour for you when you're injured and can't get treatment right away or have any pain meds?"

"The longest time. It's the worst," Artemis answered, finally seeing where Wally was going with his ramblings.

"So how long is an hour when you're being forced to laugh until your lungs collapse and you can't even pass out?" Wally's voice was hardly above a terrified whisper. Artemis closed her eyes and wished silently she hadn't come out there, that she hadn't listened to Wally's crazy talk about time.

"I think Robin's been laughing for a lot longer than a couple of hours."

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><p><strong>Yeah, not a lot of the Bats, but I wanted to focus on the team a little bit more. And Wally gets deep, but I've always thought he is sort of deep and scientific like that, so I wanted to try and put that in. Anyway, sorry again and I hope this was worth reading. Please review and feel free to be angry with me. As always, tell me what I can improve on!<strong>


	10. Chapter 10

**As promised, chapter 10 is done! Thank you all so much for the reviews on the last chapter, I'm glad you liked Wally's little speech so much! These reviews keep me writing so keep them coming!**

**Still don't own Young Justice**

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><p>It was exactly three hours since Dick had started laughing. He was still conscious and still chucking madly. His lungs were straining to expand enough for him to survive and his face was contorted into a painful grimace through the plastic smile.<p>

Alfred was toying with the shelves of medical supplies but not really cleaning or organizing anything. Every few seconds the old butler glanced over at the boy and a pained look crossed his face. Then he returned to fiddling with boxes of pills in the cabinets.

Bruce was glaring fixedly at a screen on one of the many machines throughout the batcave. He was still in full Batman uniform, but the cowl was pulled down to hang loosely around his neck. He had been standing statue still for ten minutes, hardly blinking and never once wavering from his position.

The atmosphere in the dimly lit cave was thick and expectant. The air was like molasses going down the throats of the two older men. If not for Dick's laughter there would not have been a perceivable sound anywhere in the cave.

Every so often there was a break in the boy's chuckles, during which he would gasp quickly for air. Usually, he inhaled too quickly and choked, causing a sort of half-laughing, half-coughing sound to pierce the air. Dick had long since stopped crying, as if he had run out of tears, but he had curled tightly into a ball, from which came the torturous sounds.

Another five tense minutes passed, during which Bruce blinked exactly six times, Alfred glanced at Dick fifty-five times, and Dick shed a single tear that rolled slowly down his nose and dripped onto his knee.

Finally, a small beep emitted from the machine in front of Bruce and a transparent liquid was poured into a small syringe.

In one fluid motion Bruce grabbed the syringe, walked ten steps toward Dick, and emptied the liquid into the boy's arm.

Alfred counted ten seconds until Dick's laughter died completely. Another three while the boy gasped. Five for a short coughing fit. One for a glance at Bruce and then Dick passed out, a fading grin still etched on his face.

Bruce lowered the boy gently onto the medical bed and looked at the many machines that were monitoring his vital functions. Heartbeat was slowing down, blood pressure returning to normal, but his breathing was still weak.

Alfred already had a breathing mask handy and was slipping it onto Dick's face even as Bruce was about to ask for it. The man tried to say something, but only managed small, indistinct sounds. Alfred seemed to understand, however, and gave his charge a small, relieved smile.

The first thought that entered Dick's mind when he woke up was air. Sweet, fresh air! Oh, how he had missed it!

He took a minute to simply breathe and enjoy the sensation of his chest rising and falling as air filled his lungs. Then he became aware of his surrounding and opened his eyes blearily.

He was lying in his bed at the manor, and judging from the light coming through the window it was some time in the early morning. Beside his bed was a chair occupied by the slumbering figure of Bruce Wayne. His head was resting against his chest and he looked as though he had been sitting there for a long time.

Dick shifted slightly in bed and felt a sharp pain in his left arm. He hissed slightly and the memories came flooding back. Sportsmaster...blowing up the suitcase...laughing again...the bullet.

Experimental movement of his hand and arm revealed that the wound was tightly bandaged and around the middle of his upper arm. It didn't seem to be a major injury, but it sure did hurt a lot.

The shifting of bedsheets had woken up Bruce, ever the light sleeper, and Dick looked over as the man gave a small grunt and opened his eyes. He quickly saw that Dick was awake and immediately lost all outer signs of grogginess as he fixed his son with a penetrating gaze before asking, "How do you feel?" His voice was rough and cracked; he had obviously been waiting for hours for Dick to wake up.

Dick opened his mouth and tried to talk, but as soon as the first sound left his lips his throat burned with pain. He grabbed his throat and squeezed his eyes shut for a minute. When he looked up again, Bruce was watching him with a concerned look.

"What's wrong? Does your throat hurt?" the man asked quickly. Dick nodded. "The laughing must have damaged your vocal cords, I thought this would happen."

Dick raised en eyebrow and mouthed, How long was I asleep?

"Only six hours. We moved you here after three once your breathing regulated," came the answer.

The venom? Dick asked, glad he was so used to communicating silently with his mentor.

"New formula. It activates upon ingestion and then returns later, immune to our antidote for the most part, but not entirely. The partial effects saved your life by allowing you to breathe a bit," Bruce answered. He looked as though he could still hardly believe Dick hadn't died. It was hard for Dick to believe, too, once the realization hit him.

He shifted slightly to sit up more in bed, but winced as he put weight on his bound arm. Bruce of course noticed and asked, "How does your arm feel?"

Dick conveyed in a look exactly how his arm felt and Bruce's eyes hardened a bit with worry. Then he thought for a moment before saying carefully, "Do you...remember anything from when you were laughing?"

Dick thought carefully. He remembered getting shot...then a lot of pain in his arm as someone...Zatanna?...cleaned it. Then he recalled Bruce's loud voice talking to his teammates, then soft words of encouragement as they travelled to the batcave. Then...Dick shuddered and focused on his breathing as he remembered when Bruce took the bullet out of his arm. That had gotten through the numbness from laughing for so long. He glanced at Bruce, who understood immediately what he was thinking about.

"I'm sorry about that, but nothing would stay in your system long enough to take effect and I had to get the bullet out-"

Dick cut off the explanation with a hand on his father's arm and a glare that said very clearly, "It's fine. I get it."

Bruce sighed and rested a hand on top of Dick's. For a moment, they stayed silent, each lost in their own separate thoughts. Bruce wondered how long Dick would be unable to talk, while Dick's thoughts wandered elsewhere.

For a second Dick marveled at his survival before thinking again about his hours of laughing. He didn't tell Bruce, but during that whole time, past the pain, he had felt terrified. It had been one of the many times he had thought about the possibility of his death, but it was one of the few where he knew he had no control over the outcome. The feeling of helplessness had terrified him, and it had consumed his thoughts while he laughed.

Something of his thoughts must have showed on his face, for Bruce suddenly looked concerned again, but he remained silent, which Dick was glad for. He didn't want to admit his fears, even though he knew Bruce wouldn't think he was weak.

To smooth over the moment, Dick mouthed, Can I have a drink?

"I'll be right back," Bruce said as he got up to get some water. Dick watched silently as his bedroom door closed with a soft snap. When Bruce returned a few minutes later with a glass of water, Dick was fast asleep with his head still turned toward the door.

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><p><strong>Finally! Robin's all better! But is this the end of hiss troubles? I hope you liked this one and don't forget to review! Chapter 11 will be up as soon as I can manage, so until then, stay whelmed! <strong>


	11. Chapter 11

**Thank you all so much for your reviews! Hopefully this wait wasn't to bad. So here you go, chapter 11!**

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><p>Bruce sat by Dick's bed during the night. This was for many reasons, the most obvious of which being Dick's nightmares. The boy almost always had nightmares and frequently woke from them sweating and scared, but he had long been able to calm himself down and go back to sleep without Bruce's help. There was of course the odd night where he would be so shaken he would walk down to Bruce's room and crawl in bed with him, or simply stand in the doorway and assure himself the man was still alive.<p>

Tonight, however, Dick had a fresh set of brand-new nightmares. When he managed a few minutes of sleep Bruce would watch him toss and turn in bed, mouthing words he didn't understand and occasionally letting out hoarse moans. Soon Dick would wake up with wide eyes and the frightened expression of a deer in headlights, panting heavily. Bruce would calm him down and get him back to sleep in the same way he had years ago when Dick's nightmares had been made of circus tents and falling endlessly and the final bone-crunching snap of hitting the ground.

This time Dick's nightmares were made of an unimposing green gas, a paper-white face with a blood-red smile, and an eerie, echoing laugh. The laugh would start low and quiet before it grew loud and maniacal. Dick would start laughing along with the disembodied chuckle until he couldn't breathe anymore. He would gasp and try to suck in air but it was like cotton had been stuffed in his throat. He always woke gasping for breath and with the image of the laughing white face hovering in front of him, its red grin fading slowly into the dark.

Needless to say, Dick and Bruce hardly slept all night. At some point, Dick sat up and hugged his knees to his chest, refusing to go back to sleep and merely sitting there, breathing deeply while Bruce watched him through the gloom. Bruce fell asleep soon after, but Dick remained awake the rest of the night. He watched from the bed at the sun rose, bathing everything in a soft golden light.

His eyes were sore, his throat burned, his head was pounding, and the image of the Joker's face still lingered in his mind, but Dick smiled as he gazed out of his window at the gold sky. He was alive. It was another day. How could anything make him feel worse than he already did? Today could only go up.

Bruce was still slumped in a chair by his bed, fully clothed and snoring slightly. Dick carefully untangled himself from his sheets and stood up tentatively. Bruce and Alfred wouldn't have wanted him standing so soon, but he didn't plan on spending all day in bed, unable to talk and afraid to go to sleep.

Dick's vision blurred for a second and his head spun, but after a minute he regained his balance and grinned. He got dressed as quickly as he could, trying to be quiet so Bruce wouldn't wake up. It was strange that he hadn't already, as he was normally such a light sleeper, but Dick guessed he had been awake for a long time and was probably too tired to wake so easily. Still...he couldn't help but worry.

When he was fully dressed and Bruce still hadn't woken up, Dick decided to wake him himself. If Bruce found him gone when he woke up he would probably worry, which would cause problems, and that chair didn't look overly comfortable.

A light tap on the shoulder did the trick. Bruce's eyes snapped open and he tensed for a moment before he saw Dick standing by him.

"Is your throat still sore?" he asked. Dick nodded. "Did you sleep at all?" A tired look in response. Bruce sighed and, looking worried, said, "You have to sleep some time."

Dick nodded, his eyes betraying his fear to the man, who sighed again and said, "They'll get better, just like the others. It'll just take some time." A short nod in understanding. Bruce stood up and stretched, then followed Dick out of the room and down to the manor's first floor, where the smell of cooking breakfast drifting through the halls was coming from.

Breakfast was unusually quiet with the absence of Dick's constant babble. Alfred made forced conversation at first, but gave up when Bruce showed no desire to talk. Dick hardly ate anything, mostly just staring at his food and poking it with a fork as it grew cold. Alfred noticed and asked, "Are you not hungry, Master Dick?"

Dick glanced up from his plate and shook his head, continuing to slice a strip of bacon into pieces. He knew he wouldn't be able to hold anything down, even though he hadn't eaten for nearly a whole day. The combination of little food, lots of medication, and Joker venom had left him with a sick feeling in his stomach.

When the silence had stretched for what felt like hours and Bruce and Alfred were nearly done with their breakfasts, Dick decided to ask what he had been wondering since coming down to eat. He used sign language, which he and Bruce used while in costume to communicate complicated plans silently. Body language could only go so far.

He put down his fork on top of the mutilated bacon and tapped Bruce's shoulder to get his attention, then signed, "When can I go back to the mountain?"

Bruce seemed to debate for a second before saying, "Tomorrow, if you feel better and _only_ if you start eating again."

Dick nodded happily. He wanted to make sure the team wasn't too worried about him. They always overreacted when he got hurt and Bruce taking him away to the batcave before they could do anything couldn't have helped.

As if reading his mind, Bruce said, "I told them you're fine, but I don't think they believed me."

Dick smiled slightly and signed, "They won't until they actually see me."

"We should still make sure you really _are_ fine," Bruce said pointedly. Dick got the hint and without a word they both rose from the table, gave a quick thank you to Alfred for the food, and headed to the batcave. Dick had guessed that Bruce would test him to make sure nothing unwanted was still in his system. While his teammates could be calmed just by a bit of physical proof, Bruce wouldn't be happy until he had 100% assurance nothing was wrong.

In other words, he was almost never happy.

Two hours, a series of blood tests, physical tests, and other seemingly random tests later found a certain boy wonder laying on a white-sheeted bed in the batcave, staring up at the rocky ceiling and seriously tired of having needles poked into his arm. Bruce was sitting at the batcomputer, waiting for the results of the last blood test to come in.

Half-way through, Dick had become positive that there was nothing wrong with him besides his throat, but Bruce was determined to test for every possibility. Being unable to argue his case, Dick had endured another round of what he felt were pointless precautionary tests.

"Alright, you're clear. Looks like there wasn't any lasting damage," Bruce announced. Dick rolled his eyes in an 'I told you so' way, and although Bruce couldn't see him, he seemed to know what he had done, for he said, "You know very well there could have been some- don't give me that look or you'll be stuck at home for a week."

Dick quickly changed his incredulous look to one of careful innocence. Bruce rolled his eyes and turned back to the computer, but Dick saw a smile playing at the edges of his mouth.

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><p><strong>Hope you enjoyed it! Don't forget to review and tell me what you think, and I'll have the next one up soon!<strong>


	12. Chapter 12

**New chapter! Hope you like it and thanks for the reviews on the last one, keep 'em coming!**_  
><em>

**Disclaimer: If I owned it, I'd tell ya.**

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><p><em>Recognized: Robin B01<em>

Dick, dressed in civvies with his sunglasses in place, had barely two seconds to glimpse the inside of Mt. Justice before a red-headed blur tackled him and started yelling incoherent sentences in superspeed.

"Wally, you're going to squash him. Let the kid breathe," Artemis's said. She and the rest of the team had arrived and were watching the two boys with expressions of amusement and relief.

"Sorry!" Wally said, though he was grinning from ear to ear and didn't look sorry at all. Dick grinned and tried to regain his breath without Wally noticing. As good as he felt, having a speedster knock him to the floor without warning had taken his breath away faster than normal.

"How do you feel, Robin?" Kaldur asked. He looked extremely relieved to see Dick again.

Dick opened his mouth to say he was fine, but only a hoarse croak escaped him, and his throat seared with pain.

"What's wrong?" Wally asked at once, but Dick looked past him toward M'gann and gave her a pointed look. She understood and her eyes glowed green for a second before Dick's voice spoke in everyone's mind.

_My vocal cords were damaged from laughing for so long. Batman says they'll be fine in a few days, but I keep forgetting I can't talk, _he explained. Yesterday had been horrible for him, as he was usually so talkative, but Dick had been looking forward to coming to the mountain for more than just seeing his friends. M'gann's telepathy would be the only way for him to talk without sign language for a while.

"You can't talk at all?" Conner asked. Dick shook his head and added,_ No sound whatsoever. It hurts too much and might damage my voice permanently if I talk before my throat's better._

"It's gonna be a lot quieter around here for a few days," Artemis said with a grin.

"Why don't we continue this talk somewhere else?" Kaldur suggested. The others agreed and soon they were seated comfortably around the large TV in the cave, which was currently showing an ad for a stain remover. Conner muted it and turned back to Dick.

"So how _do_ you feel?" he asked.

Dick hesitated before saying, _It's not the worst I've ever felt. If not for my voice I'd be fine, but Batman doesn't want me training until it's better._

He was glad for the sunglasses that hid his eyes. He had had another sleepless night from the nightmares. There were dark circles under his eyes, and even their normal bright blue was dimmed with fatigue. He'd have to sleep eventually.

"What about your arm?" Zatanna asked.

In truth, Dick had almost forgotten about his arm. There was still a bandage tied around, hidden under his jacket, but it hadn't bothered him as much as the nightmares or his throat.

_It's fine. It was only my arm and getting shot's nothing new._ Despite his dismissive tone, his teammates seemed to think that getting shot in the arm was hardly a small deal. To avoid an argument about what's normal for a bat and what's actually normal, he said quickly, _Honestly, I'm fine! It's-wait...Turn the volume up on the TV, now!_

The advertisements had ended and cut to a reporter standing in front of a hotel and talking to the camera. The heading at the bottom of the screen read: _Kidnapper Demands the Batman's Appearance._

Conner turned up the sound to hear the reporter say, "-unclear who the kidnapper is, but one victim had been confirmed as Barbara Gordon, the daughter of Gotham City's Chief of Police, Jim Gordon. The identity of the other victim is still unknown."

Dick felt his stomach fill with lead. Barbara had been visiting a relative with her dad. Whoever kidnapped her had to be from Gotham if they were asking for Batman. Anyone other than Arkham crazies would demand ransom, not a caped hero.

"Do you know her, Robin?" M'gann asked, seeing the look on his face.

_I-I've met her before. Her dad and Batman sort of work together. Well, Gordon more keeps the civilians and his cops out of the way so we can do everything, but they at least coordinate that, _he said, trying to hide his growing dread from M'gann.

The reporter continued talking, "Authorities are unsure why the kidnapper is requesting Batman's appearance outside of his own city, but suspect they targeted the Gordons due to their work with the caped crusader." _Obviously,_ Dick thought to himself. "Barbara Gordon and the other hostage are being held at the hotel where Gordon and her father were staying. Everyone inside has been evacuated and police have surrounded the building but are not advancing on threat of the victims' lives. The question now is, 'will Batman come to the rescue?' "

The screen cut to a view of the hotel. Dick glimpsed the sign in front, _The Harvey Hot Hotel, _before the camera moved to a window on the third floor, where a figure sitting in a chair was barely visible behind the curtain.

The reporter's next words nearly made Dick's heart skip a beat. "Hotel workers have confirmed that the victims are being held in room 222-"

_I know who it is. This is a trap for Batman,_ Dick said. He stood up and ran to the mission room, opening up the holographic screen and calling the Batcave before the others had even stood up.

Bruce, fully dressed in cape and cowl, appeared on the screen as the team assembled around Dick. Batman spared them a glance before looking back at Dick. To avoid having M'gann speak for him, Dick used sign language to talk again. 'Did you see Barbara?'

"Yes, and I know what you're going to say, and no, you are not going. I can-" Batman cut off as Dick started signing again.

'It's obviously a trap. You know who it is? We can handle it!' To his teammates, namely the aliens and Kaldur, the seemingly one-sided conversation was extremely confusing. The three humans at least understood he was using sign language, but could only understand a few words here and there. However, it was clear what Dick was trying to do.

"Of course I know who it is, but you're not go-"

'Why not? I don't need my voice to fight!'

"Batman, we can take this!" Artemis said.

"Yeah, it's just a kidnapping!" Wally said.

"I hope you know what you're getting into..." Batman said.

'I do,' Dick signed, 'I'll brief them on the way.'

"Fine, go." With that, Batman cut off the signal.

In barely five minutes the team was in the bio-ship in full costume, ready to go. When they got in the air with co-ordnance set for Dallas, Texas, where the news report had come from, the others turned to Dick with looks of expectance. Dick, now Robin, let sighed and said telepathically, _The kidnapper, he...has a grudge against Batman. It's better if they don't meet and Batman knows that. Otherwise he wouldn't have let us go._

"So who is the kidnapper?" Wally asked.

_You're not going like it._

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><p><strong>AN: Any guesses as to who the kidnapper is? Leave your ideas in the reviews, I'd love to see if you get it right!**

**As always, tell me what you liked, didn't like, things I can improve on, what you had for dinner yesterday. Just kidding, don't tell me what you had for dinner. Just stick to the first stuff!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Well, it seems like those of you who guessed correctly were mostly pretty sure about who the villain is. The rest of you weren't so sure, but that's fine! Because here, I give you the answer! **

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><p>"I cannot believe Batman's letting us fight Two-Face!" In Robin's opinion, Wally was much to excited about facing one of Gotham's most famous villains, and also one of its craziest.<p>

"How'd you even know it's him?" Zatanna asked. She and the others seemed to understand much better than Wally that fighting Two-Face was no laughing matter.

_His name is really Harvey Dent, and he's staying the Harvey Hot Hotel, _Robin explained,_ But I think that's just a coincidence. He also kidnaped two people, is staying in room 222, and demanded Batman shows up. He has a ridiculous two-theme so it's not exactly hard to figure out his crimes and most of the other Arkham regulars don't go out of their way to get Batman's attention, and the ones that do are mostly locked up right now._

"That's actually really obvious now that you point it out," Artemis said.

Robin shrugged, _Detective stuff isn't always about the complicated clues. Sometimes it's just common sense everyone else overlooks._

"Yeah, well when connecting the number two to a psychotic villain becomes common sense, we'll talk," Artemis said. Robin grinned despite his worries about Two-Face. His first encounter with the villain hadn't gone to well. He had been trying to ignore his growing fear but it was hard to keep quiet for long.

Pushing aside his thoughts, Robin noticed M'gann watching him. He gave her a small smile and turned back to the map in front of him. The bio-ship was still only halfway to Texas, but traveling fast.

"So what's the plan, 'O brilliant leader?" Wally asked after a brief silence, looking toward Kaldur.

"Robin, you are familiar with this villain, what do you suggest?" Kaldur asked.

Robin thought for a moment before starting to quickly explain some of Two-Face's habits and tendencies. He and Kaldur outlined a plan for reaching and saving the hostages and capturing Two-Face along with any goons in the building. By the time everyone understood their part, they had reached Dallas.

As M'gann found a rooftop to land the bio-ship on, Robin mused on his luck in the past few days. Facing two of Gotham's worst crazies and one of his team's biggest villains in only a couple days. Luck didn't seem to be on his side at the moment. But, he thought, in this business you can't rely on luck to save you.

Night was beginning to fall as the team surrounded the hotel where Two-Face was. The police outside were still standing around and waiting, though they seemed to be losing patience and were pacing restlessly or else talking agitatedly to each other.

_How come Two-Face hasn't done anything yet? Why's he still waiting? _Artemis asked.

_He knows Batman likes to work at night, I guess. He must really want to get at him this time, though, or he would have threatened again, _Robin answered. Two-Face was being unusually patient, but Robin decided not to dwell on his actions for to long. He had to make sure Barbara was okay. And the other hostage, of course.

_Are we all clear on the plan?_ Kaldur asked. Everyone answered in the affirmative so he ordered them out. Robin was situated on top of the hotel with Wally. They were supposed to enter on the top floor and take out any goons above the third floor. Given that there were only five floors total in the hotel, neither of them was very concerned with failure.

On the fifth floor, after having entered through an opened window, Robin and Wally split up to cover more ground, each heading down a separate hallway. In the growing darkness and silence Robin's thoughts wandered freely for the first time since seeing that news report. He had been to occupied with worrying about Barbara to really think about what he was doing, but now in the hotel, with Two-Face only a few floors below him, memories became flooding back to him.

He remembered that horrible night when Two-Face very nearly killed him. He thought about times after that, facing the madman with newfound fear he didn't have for any other villain, even the Joker.

With a quiet hiss, Robin shook the memories from his mind. He couldn't forget about the mission at hand. Continuing to search the floor, he heard a muffled shout followed by a thump and the distinct sound of a body hitting the floor. A second later, Wally was at his side.

"I don't think there are any more here. Next floor?" the speedster whispered. Robin nodded and they hurried to the staircase leading down to the fourth floor. Silently, the pair split up again and started patrolling the new floor.

Robin turned a corner a few hallways from Wally to see two goons coming toward him. Before he could dart out of sight, they spotted him and shouted something incoherent, moving to grab at their guns.

Before they could so much as lift the guns, Robin threw two birdarangs at them, knocking the weapons to the floor. In the split second it took the goons to realize what had happened, Robin was in front of them, grinning. The men stumbled back in surprise. Robin punched one in the face, breaking his nose and knocking him out. The man fell back and tripped his partner, who fell to the ground with a thud. He was promptly knocked out with a punch to the face.

As Robin began tying them up, Wally appeared at his side, a third goon slung over his shoulder.

"That's all of them, Two-Face must not have thought anyone would come from above," he said. Robin nodded again in answer, then he addressed the rest of the team through the mind-link.

_Floors four and five are clear, how are the rest of you doing?_

_The police are out of the way and won't interfere, and there aren't any goons outside, _Artemis reported.

_We've cleared the bottom two floors and are moving to floor three_, Kaldur said. He, M'gann, Conner, and Zatanna had entered through a window on the ground floor and worked their way up. Artemis had remained outside to deal with the police. _Robin, Kid Flash, locate Two-Face and keep him busy. We will join you shortly. Artemis, watch the window from outside._ Kaldur ordered.

_Got it, _Robin said.

_Window's covered_, Artemis said.

"Let's do this!" Wally grinned. Robin forced a smile and followed his friend to the stairs. He hadn't thought he would actually have to face Two-Face himself, at least not with only Wally with him. Still, he had to save Barbara and the other hostage, and the others would back them up.

As Robin mentally reassured himself about fighting Two-Face, he and Wally made their way quickly to room 222. Maybe they went a little too quickly for Robin's liking, because in what seemed like seconds they were standing outside of the door, which stood slightly ajar, a sliver of the room beyond visible in the crack.

"It's like he wants us to come in," Wally whispered, looking slightly more apprehensive than before.

Robin remained silent, thankful for once his voice was ruined. He was beginning to have second thoughts about exactly who Two-Face's trap was for. Before he could think of what to do, however, Wally pushed open the door and sped a few feet inside, where he was promptly knocked unconscious by a large pipe. The pipe was being held by a particularly large and stupid looking goon just inside the door, who started dragging Wally farther into the room as soon as he hit the floor.

Without thinking, Robin ran into the room, preparing to fight the goon, but a small click caught his ear. The cocking of a pistol. He froze and looked toward the room's window, where Two-Face was standing beside two figures, each tied to a chair. The man was turned to the side, so Robin could only see the side of his face scarred and mutilated by acid. But it wasn't the horrid sight of Tow-Face's second face that caught his eye. It was the gun, which was pointed at the head of the figure seated directly in front of the window. She was gagged and tied tightly to the chair, her red hair falling around her shoulders in disarray. Her eyes caught Robin's, the fear in them evident, the plea for help even more so.

"Babs," Robin whispered, not even noticing the aching pain in his throat.

"Nice move, Robin, you wouldn't want me to shoot the girl here, would you?" the unmistakeable voice of Harvey Dent spoke, the triumph in it obvious enough for Robin to notice even in his shocked state. Even though he had known Barbara would be here, he hadn't been prepared to see her tied up, a gun pointed at her head. The other hostage moaned slightly and Robin's eyes flicked to her for a second. She appeared to be a hotel maid. She must have been cleaning the room when Two-Face came in.

"Tie up the speedster, I'm going to play a little game with the bird boy," the command was followed by shuffling and soft groans coming from Wally. The goon tied his wrists and ankles and deposited him on the ground on the other side of Two-Face, who pulled out a second gun and turned face Robin, keeping one gun pointed at Barbara and the other at Wally. "So will you play, Robin? Juggle your friend's life for the lives of the girls? Or will they all die? You pick."

The goon had also taken out a gun and was pointing it at the maid, who starred down the barrel with a petrified look on her face. Barbara was still watching Robin, while Wally wasn't moving at all.

Before he could answer, Kaldur's voice sounded in Robin's head. _Robin, Wally is gone from the mind-link. What happened? We have taken care of the goons and are moving toward your room._

As if reading his mind, Two-Face spoke before Robin could answer, saying, "And tell your other friends not to interfere or they die anyway."

Robin hesitated, but then said, _Don't come any closer. Two-Face is in here with a goon and the two hostages. Wally's unconscious and tied up. Two-Face...he wants me to play his game or they'll all die. I'm working something out, just stand by until the hostages and Wally are safe._

_Noted, we will be ready, _Kaldur answered.

_I'm here too, you know, _Artemis said_, I can see Barbara Gordon in the window, but nothing else. If you can get them in my sight, I can shoot._

_Got it, be ready, _Robin said. He looked back at Two-Face, who asked with a half-grin, "So will you play?"

Robin nodded.

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><p><strong>Remember, please review and tell what you think. I've never written Harvey Dent before, so I'd love any feedback or helpful hints about him so I can get him as in-character as possible.<strong>

**Also, I still don't own Young Justice. (Working on that, though) ;) **


	14. Chapter 14

**I want to thank everyone who reviewed and especially if you commented on my Harvey Dent. It's really good to know I'm getting him right and that you like him! (You know, in that weird way you like villains.)**

**So, here you are: Chapter 14!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice**

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><p>Harvey Dent grinned a half-grin; the eaten, ugly side of his face remaining unchanged. Barbara's unflinching gaze remained locked on Robin, but he thought he saw her eyes widen in fear or surprise, he couldn't tell. The maid had the same terrified look, her eyes still locked on the gun pointed at her head.<p>

"Glad to hear that, but why so quiet, little Robin? Cat got your tongue?" Two-Face asked lightly. Wally stirred at his feet. "But Catwoman hasn't been seen in weeks, has she? No...I think you might have laughed a little too hard. Maybe the Joker's finally gotten to you. He's very disappointed you aren't dead, by the way. Did you know that?"

Robin assumed the clown would be, but he remained silent. He was only half-listening to Dent's talk, anyway. Behind his mask, he was seizing up the hotel room, trying to come up with a plan that wouldn't get anyone killed. It wasn't going too well.

"The Joker's offered a lot of money for someone to finish the job, you know," Dent continued. Wally was now groaning quietly, trying to wake up. Robin imagined he'd have a minor concussion, judging by the sizable bruise on his forehead. Luckily there wasn't any blood, so he wasn't overly concerned at the moment. "That's the whole reason I'm here, you see," Two-Face was watching Robin closely, "I'm a bit short on cash and I love a good opportunity to mess with the Bat. Oh, are you surprised? Did you think I really wanted the Batman showing up here?" Dent laughed, having correctly read the shock on Robin's face. Of course, everything had seemed a bit too easy. Maybe Dent had been afraid Robin would call Batman for back-up if he had had to much trouble.

"That's right, I knew you'd come if I asked for the Bat. Must have talked him out of it, didn't you? Thought it was a trap for _him_, I bet," Two-Face laughed again, and the sound seemed to wake Wally up fully. His eyes snapped open to see the barrel of a gun pointed at him. The speedster froze, blinking to clear his head but still staring at the silver gun. Dent seemed to notice his newest hostage was awake, for he said lightly, as though commenting on the weather, "Move and the other two die, Flash Boy."

Wally then took in the other captives and Two-Face himself, finally looking over at Robin, who was standing in the middle of the room, tense and unmoving, eyes locked on Two-Face. Robin glanced at Wally and said in the mind-link, _Stay still, I'm working something out. Are you alright?_

_I'm good enough. Head hurts like hell, though, _Wally answered, _Please tell me you aren't gambling my life on a coin toss._ He seemed to read Robin's mind, and said, _Dude, why can't you just-_

_Because if I move, you all die. If you move, the hostages die. If Artemis tries shooting right now, I'm betting Two-Face and the goon will shoot on reflex and someone could die, _Robin interrupted,_ Playing his game is the only way to buy us some time._

_Yeah, and what if you lose?_

_I-It really doesn't make a huge different. He'll shoot someone whether I win or lose. There are two options now, thanks to you rushing in without thinking. _Robin glanced at Wally again, who looked like he was only just understanding the situation.

_But he won't kill anyone, right? Not if you can-_

"So, Wonder Boy, let's get started, huh? I haven't got all night," Two-Face said, cutting off the silent conversation. Robin swallowed a lump in his throat. He was having trouble controlling his growing fear. He couldn't let Dent see how scared he was, but that getting harder by the second.

"I say we have two rounds in our little gambling game. First round, Flash Boy's life against the redhead's. Second is the maid and the BatBrat." Dent looked disappointed at Robin's less-than-shocked reaction to the news that he would be gambling his own life.

Instead of expressing shock, anger, or a voicing desperate plea for mercy, Robin had frozen, his breath caught in his throat. Yet again that night, he had been caught unprepared. This time it was because, unless he came up with a plan soon, the lives of his two best friends in the world would rest on the toss of a coin. And only one would live.

Two-Face slipped the gun he had been pointing at Barbara into his pocket and pulled out his double-sided coin. He started flicking the coin into the air, catching it in a fist and then flicking it again. Robin glimpsed the marked side of the coin as it twirled in the air. He remembered the first time he had seen that coin and sincerely hoped that this day wouldn't end like that one.

_It won't, this time's different, _Robin assured himself.

_What are talking about? 'This time?' What's that mean?_ Artemis's voice startled him, making him flinch. This caught Dent's eye, and the man watched Robin suspiciously, the coin flying through the air.

Robin shook his head and said hastily, _N-nothing. I was just...uh...talking to myself. _He hadn't realized he had spoken in the mind-link. He'd have to be more careful about that in the future.

_Have you figured something out yet? I'm not overly thrilled about the 50/50 chance I'm going to die! _Wally said.

_Relax, you're not going to die,_ Robin said, _I-I think I've figure something out..._

_I sense a 'but' coming, _Artemis cut in.

'_But' nothing. It's all we've got,_ Robin said, sounding more confident than he felt. He quickly started to explain to Wally what he had to do, but before he could finish, Dent started talking again.

"Okay, Robin. I know the bird's lost his voice, so I'll make this easy on you," Two-Face said. He had stopped flipping the coin and was now clutching it in a closed fist, as though it would hop out of his hand if he let go. "Coin lands clean side up, the girl lives. Coin lands marked side up, speedy here lives." Dent paused, a wicked grin creasing his face as he added, "And you toss."

Dent flicked the coin across the room and Robin caught it on instinct. His fist remained in the air, closed around the coin for a few more seconds before he slowly lowered it, shaking visibly, to his side. His eyes were wide behind the mask, staring unseeingly in front of him.

As though from far away, Robin heard Dent's chuckle fill the small room. In the back of his mind, he was aware of Wally telling the others what had happened, but his voice seemed distant, disconnected from his friend's mind. He heard the others trying to talk to him, shouting incoherent words that jumbled together and fused into mindless babble in his head.

The only thought in Robin's mind was repeating over and over again like a broken record. _No. No no no no no. This can't be happening. No no no. I can't. No. Oh God, no._ How could he be the deciding factor in his friends' lives? How could he flip the coin that would sentence one of them to death?

Wait, no, he had a plan. He could do something...What was the plan? Robin's mind raced, trying to remember the idea he had come up with not two minutes ago. Was it really only two minutes? It felt like years. An eternity seemed to have passed in the span of time it took the double-sided coin to cross the room. The weight of the small disk was like a boulder in his hand, weighing him down until he felt his knees hit the floor with a muffled thud.

Again, as though from very far away, Robin heard a voice. But this time it wasn't Two-Face's. Instead, Wally's panicked shout reached his ears, having abandoned the mind-link. "Rob! Rob, come on, don't-argh!" the speedster was cut off with a grunt of pain. Dent must have kicked him, but Robin wasn't seeing anything. He was staring down at his hand, now opened in front of him; the coin sitting on his palm, marked side up. The scratched silver seemed to taunt him. It's imperfect surface grinned at him, reminding him forcibly of the Joker.

Suddenly, as though possessed, Robin's head shot up to stare at Harvey Dent, who was grinning in the same way as his coin. He was now pointing his gun at Barbara, his back to Wally, who was curled up on the floor and clutching his stomach. Barbara's eyes flicked between Two-Face and Robin, pleading for a rescue that Robin wasn't sure he could bring.

Two-Face, still grinning, said, "Marked side it is, Bird Boy!"

Robin realized what he was going to do a second before he did it. Time seemed to slow down when he saw Dent's finger tense on the trigger, ready to shoot. Robin half-stood, one foot forward, his mouth opened soundlessly and one arm stretching out toward Two-Face. He knew he couldn't do anything in time. He couldn't win. Not this time.

Robin closed his eyes, one broken word escaping his lips before the crack of the gun shattered the air.

"No."

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><p><strong>Sorry about that cliffhanger, but I regret absolutely nothing!<strong>

**Remember, please let me know what you think about anything in the reviews and I will keep any comments in mind while writing the next chapter. Thank you for reading and thank you a million more times for reviewing!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed on the last chapter, I love feedback of any kind, so keep it up! I'm sorry for that cliffhanger, but it was to good to resist. So here at last, Chapter 15!**

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><p>The maid's muffled scream drowned out any other sound in room 222. Robin didn't open his eyes, deathly afraid of what he would see. He didn't move a muscle, but internally the Boy Wonder had reached his limit. He couldn't muster the strength to do anything. The piercing scream filling the room echoed his mind perfectly.<p>

Babs. She couldn't be dead. Not like this, not here. She couldn't be killed in some random hotel room in Texas by a psychopath that thought he was just playing a game, gambling one life for another, all for some cash and a couple of laughs.

It wasn't fair. She was only kidnapped to draw him here, and he couldn't even save her. What kind of hero was he? Losing his head in front of the villain, falling apart with a couple of threats and a two-sided coin? What would Batman say? He had failed. He shouldn't even be Robin anymore.

Robin could have stayed there, half-kneeling in the middle of the floor with his eyes closed for hours. He could have stayed there for the rest of his life, and he was prepared to. But in a pause in the maid's scream, he heard strained grunts and the clinking of metal against metal.

At once, on an instinct grained into his head from countless hours of training, Robin opened his eyes to take in the sight in front of him. The first thing he noticed was Barbara, sitting in her chair. But her head wasn't lolling to the side, blood dripping from a bullet wound onto the floor. Instead, she was struggling against the ropes binding her to the chair, eyes flicking over the room every few seconds. She was alive. Blessedly, fully alive and breathing.

The focus of her glancing was also the source of the noises Robin had heard, which was a furious fight between Wally and Dent's giant goon. The goon was trying to strangle Wally, having abandoned his gun on the floor. Wally was putting up a good fight, considering his arms and legs were still handcuffed behind his back. Dent himself was lying on the floor, a bloody bruise on his head and his hand still curled around the gun.

At that moment, the door behind him burst open, and the rest of Robin's team, minus Artemis, rushed into the room. Conner quickly took care of the goon with a punch to the head while M'gann and Zatanna freed the hostages. Wally was freed from his handcuffs, but instead of immediately giving a report to Kaldur about what had happened, he went over to his best friend and knelt on the ground in front of where Robin had still not moved from his position.

Quietly, so the others wouldn't hear, Wally said, "Dude, you okay? Barbara's fine, it's over." Robin met his best friend's eyes and he could tell that even through the mask Wally knew he was anything but okay. The speedster bit his lip and nodded once before standing up and offering a hand to pull Robin to his feet as well. Robin accepted the offer without thinking, but when he was standing and Wally pulled his hand away a glint of sliver shone in his fingers. Somehow, Robin had held onto the coin without even remembering it was there.

With a look of utter loathing, Wally turned the coin over in his hand to see the scratched side, the side that had almost gotten Babs killed. Then Robin realized that she _should_ have died, but Wally must have done something to prevent it. Robin looked up at the fifteen-year-old questioningly, but before the speedster could say anything Artemis entered the room and started speaking.

"The police are coming up to collect the bad guys and the hostages. We should get out of here."

"Agreed, let's move," Kaldur said.

"Are you two okay to wait here for the police?" M'gann asked Barbara and the maid. The maid looked to terrified to speak, and Barbara looked severely shaken but nodded firmly. She briefly met Robin's gaze with a curious and calculating look before he turned away and headed out of the room with Wally, who kept casting him worried glances.

In front of him, Robin saw Artemis and Kaldur walking silently side by side, leading the team out of the hotel. Next to him, Wally matched his pace rather than run ahead, but didn't say anything. Behind him, Robin heard the soft footsteps of M'gann and Zatanna and the heavier ones of Conner behind them. The girls were whispering to each other, but he couldn't make out any of what they said.

In a huge span of time that took no time at all, Robin found himself stepping out into the cool Texas night. Police cars were stationed all around the hotel. An ambulance was parked just outside the half-circle, with paramedics standing by. A few police officers were left outside, but the majority had gone in to collect the goons.

One who looked like the chief approached Kaldur, but the Atlantan politely waved him away, and the quiet procession continued down the street. After half a block, they came to a nearly-empty parking lot and M'gann said, "Wait, I'll call the bio-ship here."

So they waited. No one talked, as they normally would have after a successful mission. Rather, the silence hung in the air, turning an otherwise breezy night into a heavy blanket around them. Robin knew the others must have realized something was wrong, but no one asked and he was happy to remain silent for the time being.

Robin avoided Wally's searching look, unwilling to confront him about what had happened. He was trying not to think about it at all, but the memory was still fresh in his mind. In an attempt to get his mind off of it, Robin gazed up at the stars. It was now well into the night, and most of the city's lights were off, so the sky looked clearer than he had ever seen it. Gotham skies came in a range from inky black to medium grey. He had hardly ever seen so many stars since his circus days. He had travelled the country and seen the sky from nearly every state, but he had always loved the desert sky. It was the clearest of anywhere else, and something about the cloudless stretch of space above him always welcomed him. It was something constant in his ever-changing world. As constant as his parents until...

"Dammit," Robin hissed. It was the third word he had spoken that night, but the first that wasn't accompanied by intense burning in his throat and lungs. Of course, the first two times he had been so desperate and shocked he hadn't noticed, but his throat finally seemed to be getting better. Still hurt like hell, though. But better.

Wally shifted restlessly next to him, and Robin glanced up at his friend. What would have happened if the coin had been lying clean side up? Whatever Wally did to save Barbara, he couldn't have done it if the gun had been pointed at him instead. Wally sensed Robin's eyes on him and looked down to meet them. An instant understanding passed between them before they both looked away. It was enough for now that everyone was alive. They'd deal with specifics later.

When the bio-ship arrived and everyone had taken their seats, Artemis found the silence to unbearable. "So is anyone going to talk about what happened back there? Because I have no clue, seeing as I was on top the building across the street, but it's pretty obvious _something_ happened," she glared at them all, daring someone to answer.

Finally, after a few seconds of uncomfortable silence, Kaldur spoke and all eyes but Robin's turned to him, "I would also like to know what went on in that room." As if on cue, Zatanna, Artemis, Conner, M'gann, and Kaldur all turned to look at Robin and Wally, who were both avoiding everyone else's eyes.

Slowly, they shared another glance before Wally coughed lightly and finally looked up at his teammates. They all faced him, ignoring Robin for the moment, and for which the boy was extremely grateful.

Wally decided to attempt to put off the conversation until later by saying, "Hey, Gordon's fine, that maid will be fine, I'm fine, Rob's...alive, and we got the bad guys! Let's just be grateful for that, huh? We have a long flight back to the mountain and we don't have to talk about anything until then!" He smiled hopefully at the unconvinced faces of his friends. After a few seconds, Wally gave up and dropped the smile, but in the still-opened mind-link, he said to everyone but Robin, _Okay, listen. Rob doesn't want to even _think_ about what happened back there, much less talk about it, so just lay off it for a while. I don't even know what really went down, but he's...he's pretty shaken up. Give him some time, okay?_

If Robin noticed the team's strange behaviour when they all nodded at seemingly nothing, he didn't show it. He was much too occupied with keeping his mind off the hotel room to really realize what was going on around him. After a few minutes, he simply opened up his wrist computer and started fiddling with the new security system he was designing for the batcomputer. The others let him work in silence, but for the rest of the ride they kept casting him concerned looks that he either didn't notice, or chose to ignore.

**-Mt. Justice-**

The team trooped into the cave's mission room to find Batman waiting for them. He was wearing his ever-present scowl that only deepened when Robin entered the room last, just behind Wally. It was obvious the boy was preoccupied with his thoughts, but they weren't good thoughts, and that showed clearly on his face. You didn't have to be Batman to see the way his expression seemed to have aged since he last stood in that room. But only one person other than Batman knew that if Robin took of his mask his eyes would be sunken and tired, that the boy who was usually so strong would appear weak, broken from within. Wally stood next to Robin in line, knowing that his best friend wanted nothing more than to leave the room and be alone. Be anywhere but the place where he would have to hear what had happened all over again and blame himself every second of it.

But Robin knew, as did Wally and as did Batman, that he had to stay. He had to pretend to be okay for a little longer. Just long enough so that the others understood what they had to.

With a final calculating look at his protégé, Batman turned to Kaldur and said, "Report."

At once Kaldur responded, "We successfully entered the hotel and took down Two-Face's goons-"

"How many?" Batman interrupted.

"A-about twenty in all," Kaldur said. Batman nodded for him to continue, "While Conner, M'gann, Zatanna, and myself finished off the goons, Robin and Wally went to confront Two-Face..."

Here, Robin tried not to listen to Kaldur's report. Some words did reach his mind, though. _Barbara Gordon...coin toss...Harvey Dent..._but then Kaldur faltered in his retelling. "And-and then...something happened in the room. We heard a gunshot and screaming, and when we went in, Wally was fighting a goon while Two-Face was unconscious on the ground. I don't know exactly what happened."

With that, Batman looked to Wally, who quailed under his stern glare before clearing his throat and saying, "Well, when Dent turned his back to me to...um...shoot Barbara...I turned to kick his legs out from under him as he pulled the trigger. The bullet hit the ceiling, I think, and Dent fell and smacked his head on the window. The goon sort of freaked out and dropped his gun and started trying to strangle me. That's when the others came in."

Robin was infinitely grateful that Wally didn't mention his uselessness, and a hundred times more that Batman didn't comment on it either. Instead, he simply said, "Good job, Team, you are dismissed."

There was a pause in which everyone but Wally and Batman turned to look at Robin, who stared steadily down at the floor, before Batman gave them all a bat-glare and they quickly left the room. Wally remained behind a second longer, only leaving when Robin nudged him and nodded for him to go. Batman glared at the speedster's retreating back until he was gone from sight. Then he turned to Robin, who suddenly found his boots extremely interesting.

Batman coughed lightly and Robin flinched as though he had been punched. As slowly as he dared, Robin lifted his eyes from his boots to his mentor, waiting for him to say something. After a solid minute of silence, he did, "I'm guessing that there is a reason Wally didn't mention you doing anything in the hotel room?" Robin nodded. "And I suppose you have an explanation for that besides that you _didn't_ do anything?" Another nod. "And you're not going to tell me what that is, are you?" No response. "Not yet, at least?" Batman added. Robin shook his head slowly. Batman narrowed his eyes and asked, "Do you _want_ to tell me?" Robin swallowed a lump in his throat the size of a baseball, and nodded.

Batman sighed and looked down at his protégé, who had resumed his examination of his boots. His glare softened and morphed into clear concern for the boy so obviously lost. He asked one last question, just to be sure of his suspicion, "Does it have to do with Barbara?"

Robin's head shot up with the frightened look of an animal that knows it's about to be shot. His expression was answer enough for Batman, who nodded once and laid a heavy hand on his as-good-as-son's shoulder. Robin let out a breath he hadn't known he was holding and stepped into the embrace gladly. He buried his face behind Batman's arms and let himself be led away. Before he knew it, he was back at the manor and crawling into bed in full costume. He was asleep in minutes with Bruce's comforting presence.

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><p><strong>Tried for a bit of fluff, even though I don't consider myself very good at it. Thanks for reading and don't forget to review! This story is coming to a close, but it's been so much fun to write and hope it was funsad/aggravating to read, or pretty much any emotion you felt. :)**


	16. Chapter 16

**Forewarning, sorry if this is rather badly edited. I'm leaving for vacation tomorrow and probably won't have time to write or anything while I'm there and I really wanted to get this up. This is the final chapter, and I kind of suck at endings (mostly because I don't _want_ it to end, even though it has to) but I tried to tie things up.**

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><p><em>He was back in room 222. Harvey Dent was pressing a gun to Barbara's head, ready to pull the trigger. Robin couldn't move, his feet were glued to the floor. He reached for his utility belt but found it gone. He couldn't do anything to save her. On the ground at Dent's feet was Wally, but he wasn't moving and a pool of blood was spreading around his head like a halo. Dent was laughing, but then it wasn't his laugh, it was the Joker's. His head transformed into the mad clown's and suddenly Robin was locked in a golden cage. Barbara's bloody body had joined Wally's at his feet. The Joker was still laughing, saying, "Couldn't save them, could you bird boy? And you call yourself a hero!" Robin found himself laughing, unable to stop. His lungs burned but he kept on laughing. The Joker was approaching him with a knife, saying he was going to give him a permanent smile-<em>

"Dick! Dick, wake up!"

Someone was shaking him roughly, yelling in his ear. Dick's eyes snapped open and he was back in his bed. He gasped for air and tried to sit up, but found himself wrapped in his Robin cape. This only made him panic more until he started to struggle violently to get free from the fabric. Strong hands grabbed his arms and pinned them to his side until he calmed down. It took nearly ten minutes for him to stop thrashing and lay still.

Bruce slowly removed his hands and unclipped the cape from his shoulders before gently untangling it from the boy. Dick was still breathing heavily, but had calmed down enough to simply sit in bed and stare ahead of him. He could still see the unmoving bodies of Wally and Barbara in front of him. They had burned like brands in his skull.

"It was just a nightmare," Bruce said calmingly, "How do you feel?"

The question should have been easy to answer. After any of his usual nightmares, Dick would have said that he was scared, but would be fine. After his more recent Joker nightmares, he would have answered with a signed 'I'll live.' But now...he wasn't so sure.

He didn't want to test his throat, so after a few minutes of thinking Dick lifted his hands to sign, 'I'm not dead yet,' which was the most positive thing he could truthfully say, but his hands shook so badly not even Bruce was able to make out the words.

"How about some hot chocolate?" Bruce asked, "Alfred wasn't able to sleep, so he's already up." Dick nodded gratefully. Bruce must have expected him to stay in bed, but Dick followed him downstairs anyway, not wanting to be alone in his room, where his imagination had projected his best friends' bodies onto the floor next to his bed. Bruce didn't say anything about it, though, so the two made it down to the kitchen, where Alfred was bustling around organizing the cabinets, even though they were already practically arranged in the Dewy-Decimal system for spices.

At the sight of his charges, Alfred put down the jars he was holding and started making hot chocolate without a word. It was practically a routine now whenever Dick had really bad nightmare. In truth, they were all pretty bad, but usually Bruce could calm him down enough to go back to sleep. The last two nights after the Joker were both hot chocolate nights. The drink calmed him down almost instantly, so Alfred always had a couple bags of mix on hand in preparation.

Dick sat down at the kitchen bar without a word. His hands were still shaking and he had barely made it down the stairs because his legs were so weak. Bruce sat down next to him, but didn't say anything. In this way, about five minutes passed where the only sounds were Alfred making hot chocolate for Dick and coffee for Bruce. When he was finished he placed the steaming mug of hot chocolate in front of Dick and a cup of equally hot coffee in front of Bruce. Dick wrapped his hands around the cup, not caring that it burned his skin, and took a sip, although he did care that it burned his already raw throat. Bruce also sipped his drink, although he didn't even seem to notice it's temperature. He carefully kept his gaze directed around the kitchen at appliances or Alfred, who had resumed his organizing, but was always watching Dick in his peripheral vision.

Dick of course knew that Bruce was watching him, but he still couldn't find words to express his jumbled emotions, and he was afraid of letting go of the cup, in case his hands still shook.

At some point, Dick glanced at the clock on the oven, which read in luminescent green letters: _1:05 am_. He was surprised it was so early. The mission had to have ended sometime past 8, and then with the flight back and the briefing afterward, he wouldn't have gotten to sleep until well after 11. His nightmares hadn't waited for very long to wake him up, then.

At 1:25, Dick finished his hot chocolate, having taken very small and slow sips. It wasn't even hot anymore when he finished, but he had made sure to drain the last drops of liquid from the cup even so. Bruce had already downed two and half cups of coffee, and Alfred had moved on to cleaning out the refrigerator, having finished with the cabinets.

The clink of his cup on the counter seemed to signal a change in the two older men. Alfred slowly began reloading the refrigerator, and Bruce set down his third cup of coffee and turned to face Dick for the first time since they came down.

He repeated the question from earlier, though not really expecting a different answer. "How do you feel?"

Dick didn't lift his gaze from his empty mug for a minute, thinking over his answer. Finally, he took his hands from the now-cool ceramic surface and, grateful that they had stopped shaking, signed, 'I've been better. But I've only felt worse once.'

Immediately, the air in the room turned cold. Even Alfred had looked over to see his response, and the old man's eyes saddened measurably as a tub of ice cream slowly melted in his hands. Bruce seemed at a loss for words. He had been horrible with children when Dick had first come to live at the manner, but even now he wasn't too good with comforting.

Finally, Bruce managed one small assurance that was all Dick really needed to hear at that moment. "I'll alway be here, remember that. Always."

*****Later that day*****

Dick heard the doorbell from the living room, where he was watching reruns of Mythbusters on the TV. He hadn't been able to sleep at all last night, so he eventually started watching TV just for something to do that didn't require effort on his part. He fully expected to spend the day doing absolutely nothing, which Bruce and Alfred seemed to think he needed and which Dick didn't bother arguing on.

Despite his desire to not be included in anything, Dick muted the TV when Alfred opened the door. He could just hear what was going on in the hall, and strained to make out the conversation.

"Good morning, Miss Gordon. What brings you here?" Alfred asked. Dick's breath caught in his throat.

"Can I see Dick, please?" Barbara's voice sounded steady and firm, but there was hint of a plea in it that she tried to hide.

"I'm not sure if Master Dick should be seeing anyone at the moment-" Alfred began, but Barbara cut him off, "I don't care if he's sick, I really need to see him! Please, Alfred?"

Alfred paused, but Dick had made up his mind. He jumped over the back of the couch and hurried out into the hall. Alfred was standing with his back to Dick at the end of the hall, and in the doorway he could just make out a hint of Barbara's red hair. He ran the length of the hall and skidded to a halt just behind Alfred. Pushing his luck, he said in a hoarse voice, "She can come in."

Alfred didn't object. Instead he simply bowed his head and left. Dick turned to Barbara, taking in the simple fact that she was standing there, alive. She looked completely fine, save for a slight exhaustion in her eyes. For a moment they both stood there in the open doorway, staring at each other. When Barbara opened her mouth to say something, Dick moved forward and wrapped her in a hug, cutting her off before she even started talking. After a moment's hesitation, she relaxed and returned the hug, completely unaware of what the physical assurance that she was alive meant to him.

When Dick finally stepped back, Barbara gave him a questioning look, to which he answered quietly, "I-I heard about Dallas. I was worried..."

Barbara's expression darkened slightly, but she her voice was steady when she said, "I'm fine. Two-Face was caught and...and I'm fine." A moment passed, where Barbara seemed to be remembering her eventful night before she shook her head and asked lightly, "So, um, what happened to your voice? Are you sick?"

Dick smirked in an 'if only' sort of way, but nodded all the same. Barbara looked briefly confused, but quickly started apologizing, "I'm sorry, I wouldn't have come if I had known you're sick. I'll should just-"

"No!" Dick interrupted. He winced at the pain in his throat. Talking quietly didn't bother it, but just a little louder and it brought back all the soreness. To be safe, he gestured for her to come inside rather than ask out loud. After a moment of doubt, she complied and finally stepped through the doorway. Dick closed the door behind her and they both walked back to the living room, which was always their favorite place to plan pranks or just hang out.

Barbara laughed when she saw what was playing on the TV. "Mythbusters? Really, Dick, you like that show way to much." He shrugged helplessly and they both grinned, sitting down to watch it anyway. For a moment, everything seemed normal and Dick forgot about everything that had happened in the past couple days. It was just another day hanging out with Barbara. For a while he could simply live and forget. No lasting harm was done...at least not physically, and his voice would be fine in a few days. The only bump would be avoiding telling the team exactly what happened in the hotel, but that was a problem for another day.

* * *

><p><strong>I'm not 100% happy with the ending, but again I was kind of rushing through this chapter to get it p before I left. So please tell me what you think. Last reviews are always nice and I'd love to hear what you thought of the fic as a whole. Thanks one last time for reading and a special thanks to anyone who has reviewed this at some point.<strong>


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